Luke 14: 15 “Now when one of those who sat at the table with Him heard these things, he said to Him, ‘Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Luke 14:15-35 tells us that those who come to the banquet table of Jesus will be blessed. Jesus is the host of this party. The food that Jesus supplies satisfies the hunger in your heart and life. That in turn, can satisfy your physical hunger. The words from the Bible fills our spiritual vacuum. It satisfies your hunger for meaning and purpose in life. The drink at the banquet table, the love of Jesus, satisfies the spiritual thirst in every human heart. We are shown how to love like Jesus through sacrificing our selfish ways.

The sad thing is so many of us, like the guests Jesus invited in verses sixteen and seventeen, make excuses why we cannot read and study God’s word or daily invite Jesus into our hearts to guide us. In verses eighteen and following, are the worldly excuses made. They involve what most people would consider good excuses. We find out for God, they are pathetic. Jesus begins in verse twenty-eight to let us know we must count the cost to follow him. It sounds extremely harsh for us to hate our mother and father until you have been told that the word “hate” is a Semitic idiom that means to “loveless.” We are to honor and love Jesus above our spouse and above all worldly things. Jesus is to be our priority and when we do that, all else follows.

Jesus is food for our soul. The more time I spend in God’s Word and prayer, the less time I spend snacking on worldly food. Yes, I use this metaphor to show that their is a correlation to satisfying my spiritual hunger to that of satisfying my physical hunger. There is not as much of a temptation to indulge in all the physical pleasures that are in the world. For me, overeating has been a constant struggle. However, I’m losing weight! Not because I’m on a diet, but because I’m satisfying my spiritual hunger daily. Yes, food for my spiritual hunger equals weight loss. Praise the Lord!! Maybe you can overcome some temptation that has you powerless to overcome. It could be drugs or any number of things for you. Read these scriptures and see how you can come to the banquet table of Jesus and release your physical cravings that separate you from the love of God. Food for the soul = ____________(you fill in) loss!