"God wouldn’t allow the Israelite's in the wilderness to store up manna. It had to be gathered fresh every day. We as Christians need a fresh touch by Jesus Himself every day. A fresh filling by the Holy Spirit every day. A fresh experience with the Lord God every day. Teach us, O Lord, that we can’t live on yesterday’s manna. We need to ingest a fresh supply of the Bread of Life every day.“
I said this in a sermon I gave many years ago at McLean Bible Church. And yet, despite its age, what I said is still utterly true.
But, especially today in our world where the pace of life is so highly accelerated. It's a challenge for all of us as Jesus-followers to make sure we get this fresh manna daily. At least, I know that it's certainly a challenge for me.
I have learned that, unless I deliberately set the time aside, to pray and read my Bible, the time gets away from me and is simply cobbled up by my daily schedule. I have all the good intentions in the world. But before I know it, the day is gone and I'm tired, I collapse into bed and I ask the Lord to forgive me, promising Him that I'll do better tomorrow. But then, so often, I don't do better the next day.
The great violinist Isaac Stern once said, "If I miss practicing for one day, I know it. If I miss practicing for 2 days, my fellow musicians know it. If I miss practicing for a week, the whole world knows it."
This same truth applies to our walk with Jesus. When we're trying to live on week-old manna, it's going to show in our tempers, attitudes, behavior, resistance to sin, and lack of spiritual power. It's going to show in our ability to exude "the peace of God that passes all understanding" (Phil 4:7) in the midst of life's exigencies.
So may I exhort all of us, who name the name of Jesus, to re-examine our daily lifestyle and to be sure that there is sacred time deliberately set aside in it for "a fresh touch by Jesus every day."
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