If we think that that incident described in the fourth chapter of John's Gospel happened only one time to one person, we are sadly missing something. What Jesus did 2000 years ago, He does today: He asks us for something that He might give us something else.
In yesterday's paper, there was an article about three 13-year old boys in Mississippi who were hospitalized for problems caused by muscle breakdown after trying out last week for the basketball team at their middle school. The condition is called rhabdomyolysis, which develops by using the muscle so much that it begins to break down. As proteins released by the muscle cells begin to clog the kidneys, urine turns brown, like cola. The legs begin to swell, and the kidneys drop to 30% of normal function.
You might wonder what this condition has to do with seeking the kingdom of God. But the truth is that what happened to these boys who wanted so badly to make the team happens to all of us spiritually, on a much slower level. We want so badly to succeed at life that we engage physically and mentally without "drawing apart for a rest" spiritually that we begin to fall apart, first on a mental and emotional level, and then physically also. Some of us never recognize the importance of the spiritual component to both give us energy and to hold together all the other parts of our lives.
Jesus recognized that we "need all these things" when He told the disciples to "seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added unto you." He did not deny that we need food, clothing, shelter, etc. But striving after all these things without seeking the kingdom will only develop rhabdomyolsis of the spirit. Eventually, we slow down on a psychic level, then on the physical level, and we experience burn-out; we can hardly move, just as those boys could hardly move physically.
The one thing we have to give God is our time and attention. He wants to fill us spiritually with living water, with the divine energy -- but He cannot do anything if we keep charging ahead with our own plans for the day, for the month, for the year without slowing down to connect with Him and with our own souls: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul?
We were not designed to die. Science has never discovered the "death gene" in our DNA. We were designed to live and to repair the damage done to our bodies by disease, injury, and wear. But our energy, our health, our life comes from above; it is the Gift of God given to us in the Holy Spirit. The one thing we have to give God is our time and attention -- what we call prayer, or openness to what God wants to do in us, give us, show us, teach us.
Our energy can be renewed by the Spirit; our lives can be held together by the Spirit. Psalm 1 tells us that the man whose delight is in the instruction of the Lord "...is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in due season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers."
The man/woman who sits daily with the Lord to receive His instruction "...will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint....He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (Is. 40:29-31).
The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail (Is. 58:11).
Those who seek first the kingdom of God turn to Him daily, seeking His strength, His direction, His instruction for them. Their first priority is not the list of things to do, but rather the kingdom of God within them. Then everything else will fall into place.
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