“A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” (Luke 12:15) – Possessions don’t give us spiritual nourishment. Simply passing the time by meditating on our Father’s ways and wisdom in quietness does, as well as working those ways by day: benefiting others to ease their burden and bring them joy and peace, in turn bringing us joy and peace.
*For the ways of God, see note (opens in a new tab): The Ways of God: The Truth, The Will of God, Fully Pleasing Him, Walking Worthy of Him
That’s the truth – the way it really is – what really brings a man true peace and joy – how we were programmed to find peace and joy.
The lie is peace and joy through: selfishness, greed, possessions, fame, fortune, beauty and power.
The body needs physical food for nourishment, and that brings our body peace and joy. It’s stressed and depressed when starving, and when it gets tasty food, it’s at peace and joyful.
The inner man (us as a spiritual soul) needs spiritual food for nourishment, which is: love, serving others, holiness, purity, righteousness, which nourishes our spirit (us as our inner man) with: peace and joy.
John says in 1 John 2:16 – “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” Once you understand this concept of nourishing the inward man with spiritual food vs nourishing the outward man with physical food, where nourishment is peace and joy, then you can understand what John means by: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, which are all worldly, fleshly things that are fleshly nourishment but not spiritual nourishment (Jesus was also tempted with these three things by Satan in the wilderness to begin His ministry):
- The lust of the flesh: sex, stimulants like alcohol and drugs, food and drink. They bring fleeting joy and peace to your outward man (your fleshly body), not you as a spiritual soul – your inward man.
- The lust of the eyes: possessions (“toys”), and the money to buy those possessions. Acquiring many useless possessions which truly don’t bring any spiritual nourishment (peace and joy) to the inward man, vs the spiritual food of contentment with what you have, and loving others by giving away your excess money in order to help those in need.
- The pride of life: pride/ego/the feeling of being better than others for the beauty, popularity, wealth, power, career success and possessions you possess. The truth is, according to the ways of God, is that we’re not better than anyone for these things (the lie of the ways of the world is that we’re valued for these things – the state of the outward man (that brings no peace and joy to others) vs the state of the inward man (which brings peace and joy – or misery – to others)). The true way to be exalted (thought of and spoken highly of) by God and others is to:
- Be humble (knowing all good things you have come from God, and knowing you’re not better than anyone despite all that beauty, popularity, wealth, power and career success you were given by God).
- Love God and His character and His holiness and His ways (following them yourself).
- Loving all people (especially strangers) by serving them (being useful and profitable to them, benefiting them by bringing them peace and joy through kindness and easing their burdens by helping them).
So, nourishment is peace and joy. It’s all about seeking spiritual nourishment (for us as our inward man) with spiritual food, vs seeking bodily nourishment (other than what’s necessary to function).
Spiritual food: loving relationships with God and others; bringing peace and joy to others by being kind to them and helping them; purity, holiness, righteousness; and producing the literal “fruits” (food) of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 and 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: Galatians 5:22-23 — “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” What is “love”? 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not boast, is not proud; does not behave rudely, does not self seeking, is not provoked to anger, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity (evil), but rejoices in the truth (the good ways of God); bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” Doing all these things is what brings true nourishment to your inward man – the soul, and brings lasting peace and joy to you.
Fleshly “food”: actual food and drink, stimulants like alcohol and drugs, sex, pride, beauty, wealth, power, popularity, career success, possessions. Seeking peace and joy in these things is a dead end. At the end of the day, after lots of meditation on this, you realize that none of this stuff is profitable to your overall peace and joy. Rather, they only generally bring: misery, chaos, depression, anxiety, fear, worry, panic, stress, anger, bitterness, etc.
If you can ever get yourself to a place where you value and seek the spiritual nourishment 100% over the bodily, physical nourishment (other than basic necessities to remain alive), having complete contentment for your life, you will be one joyful and peaceful person. Not trying to have “the best of both worlds”.
Part of the many layered wisdom of fasting is:
- The goal in life is to seek the spiritual nourishment of peace and joy through spiritual food. If we give up fleshly things, we can focus on spiritual nourishment rather than fleshly nourishment.
- In regard to bodily, fleshly nourishment, Christ gave up His literal fleshly body for us. If Christ gave up His body for us, what bodily, fleshly things can we give up for a brief moment for Him?