Not On Bread Alone
by William Mealand

THESE WORDS touch that all-important matter, the concern of life. Questioning Christ's claim to be God's Son, the Slanderer had said, "If you are God's son, speak to this stone that it may be becoming bread." Yet, even as He hungers, our Lord stresses the paramount value of that which is food for the spirit.

In quoting Scripture He confirms its truth, for who but He so constantly and so understandingly lived on God's declarations? As He said to His disciples, "I have food to eat of which you are not aware ...My food is that I should be doing the will of Him Who sends Me, and should be perfecting His work" (John 4:32-34).

Therefore, in accord with such an attitude Christ meets the Slanderer on the highest possible ground. He could, by some wonderfu l alchemy, transform the stone into bread. But such a display of power would not then serve God's purpose. God can satisfy need without advertisement. Quietly and unobtrusively He comes to the aid of His creatures. Yet one day His power and glory will be seen in a most notable intervention.

But now, man is to be living solely and simply by His declarations. And since God's Word is a word of life, it is sufficient. Thereby we are truly equipped; "fitted out for every goo d act." Let a man or woman stand by this, and as sure as night follows day, there will be a resultant life in every way satisfactory. Be it remembered, too, that God is only pledged to His Word. That alone will He fulfill. Ou r allegiance is to be to His declarations, not to any philosophy or sentiment of men.

Not on bread alone shall man be living. It is not all of life to eat and drink, to be concerned only with the chemistry and anatom y of the body. Nor is life fully rounded out and completed by the use of the senses. More than ever we live in a day when the power of physical and mental being is stressed. There are elaborated courses for both mind and body, and many spheres for their exercise. We are told: "the power is within you." Hence, one may be a noble, adventurous, and successful soul. And some may say, have said, "This is life!"

In many places we may see posters advertising "bread for energy." The advocacy is good, since races who have preserved and lived upon the seed of grains have been the intelligent and leading nations of the world. This, however, is but physical and mental power. "Not on bread alone shall man be living."

But what of the splendidly formulated philosophies of life, which, down the centuries, have been given to men? Cannot man live b y these? What of art and science, music, and literature? How superbly, some will say, man has worked, attained, and achieved. Surely, these are enough. And is there not "religion" and "Christianity?"

Now, man does affect to live by these. Yet, how poor and inadequate the demonstration! How far below that life which is life indeed--the life of the spirit. But, it is held that spirit has no object-matter beyond whatever can be ministered to it by the intelligence of the soul. Intellect feels itself humiliated if it be supposed to be debarred from the sight of any spiritual fact. Men deem it essential to the supposed dignity of their reason to deny th e existence of an order of things which unilluminated reason does not see.

In the words of another, "the highest conquests of reason do but suggest problems it cannot solve, and afford glimpses of a world on which it may not presume to enter. It has at best discovered enough to make life a dreary mystery, and the prospect of death a frightful nightmare." In whatever way, then, we interpret that life which is based on the things of time and sense, we feel it s insufficiency. "Not on bread alone shall man be living, but on every declaration of God."

Every declaration of God. Expression could not be more complete. We live by language, by words. But how exalted the life which is lived on God's words, His own heart-satisfying declarations . God's language has a tone, a spirit, a meaning, all its own. It arrests, grips and holds us, effecting an entrance for a living stream, a ceaseless flow while need shall last. And are they not words to invigorate, a language which is at once a solace and a stand-by!

What wonderful scope, what penetrating breadth! There is simplicity and depth, words for all. Milk for the immature, and soli d nurture for the mature. Moreover, "the word of God is living and active, and keener than any two-edged sword, and penetrating up to the parting of soul and spirit, as well as the articulations and marrow, and is a judge of the sentiments and thoughts of the heart. And there is not a creature which is not apparent before it" (Heb.4 : 12,13).

How real and true is this description of God's declarations! It is indeed penetrating, and a revealing critic of human thought and sentiment. When it comes to real values, the pronouncements of God are the last words in wisdom. And to the mind desirous of truth to b e at all times counted on, its language is final. It is so unerringly suited to individual need and aspiration. To prove this, however, we must give ourselves to it intensely, or it will avail but little.

The written Word alone. Truth first-hand. Clear, expressive declaration, inviting test, and imparting worthy conceptions of God. Hypothesis, a favorite word with the scientist, is ruled out. There is no supposition in God's declarations, no jumble of meaningless terms. And, to His language, we can come again and again, finding fresh and rare meanings. It is a living Word.

There is a freeing power in the declarations of God. They cleanse and sweeten life to the last crevice. What so-called culture , and even religious up-bringing fails to do, God's own expressive Wor d most surely accomplishes. It makes and keeps us free. And it can be, that, as never before, our perception of grace enlarges, our knowledge of truth deepens, till we rise above creeds, and every vestige of superstition.

The trouble, however, with so many of God's people, is that the y do not live up to the privilege which is theirs in Christ. Something of the world's way of thinking clouds the mind, so that they do not see the celestial character of their calling. Unduly taken up with Christ's earthly ministry, they are oblivious of that wondrous heavenly session at the right hand of God. Yet, when this is grasped , a transformation is indeed effected.

For instance, let the eyes of the heart be enlightened to see our position, our privilege, our standing in Christ, as unfolded in the epistle to the Ephesians, and vistas of grace and truth stir the mind to deeper praise. We do well to remember that Paul's writings are as much declarations of God as were our Lord's words when upon earth. They were written for this interlude of God's grace, and specially concern those of the nations. For Paul was divinely commissioned as the apostle, herald, and teacher to the nations.

But this is not to say that we read his letters alone. Rather i s it, that in the light they convey, we more truly and rightly apply the declarations we read elsewhere. God would have us skilled in the understanding of His Word, fond of solid nurture. We should so live with the oracles of God as to be teachers of their truth. There should be a readiness with the word in season, an aptness in quotation, not so much to make points in argument, as to show the greatness of God's purpose.

Every declaration of God has its point and application. There i s its immediate interpretation, in the light of circumstance and the particular people in view. The when and where is all-important. Then, there are statements and pronouncements of general character, truth which is irrespective of time and place. But we should not cling to just those simple truths which are but the alphabet of fait h and practice. They are platforms of departure, not prisons of detention.

"Would to God that all the Lord's people were prophets!" exclaimed Moses, when some in his day sought to suppress the utterances of unauthorized teachers. How many are like the gnats who skim the surface, but are careful not to wet their wings, and to go no deeper than the guardians of orthodoxy assure them is safe. How little they know of the quality and temper of God's grace or the effectiveness of Christ's sacrifice! Even Christ had to say to His disciples, "Are you also unintelligent?"

"What is the chaff to the wheat?" An encyclopedia tells us that one of the advantages of the modern threshing-machine, as contrasted with the laborious but effective flail, is that it delivers the chaff and the straw in much better condition. The same source of knowledge tells us, too, that the laborious but effective flail is coming into favor again with small holdings. Surely, the condition o f the chaff and the straw is as nothing compared with the grain. It is the wheat of the Word that calls for delivery.

Our chief requirement is truth to live by, truth which fits changing circumstance, and all the vital needs of life. And what an area of instruction is ours! The profit of all Scripture lies close to heart and mind. Counsels of reliable quality, and deep thoughts for the spirit, lie in the pages of the psalms, proverbs, and prophecies of old. Yet, at all times, blessings spiritual must be in the forefront of our thought. We view the valleys, and they are very beautiful, but our abode is the hill top, a celestial allotment.

Not on bread alone, then, shall man be living. Yet he seeks so to live, though dying all the time. May we not so live, but on God's true food--words of life, words of enlightenment. And, read aright, there is no "putting the cart before the horse," so to speak. It is God's character and achievements, His purpose and intention which should be first. His declarations make this clear. What we are and should hope to be, is of Him, supremely.

We see, however, man still filled with himself. Bread alone, just the body. Man must be ministered to at every point. He need not even think for himself. The radio can tell him all. Experts, religious, philosophical, and domestic, can put him wise. Authority speaks, so why question?

But in silence God speaks. In the quietude of the spirit's assent. In that sanctuary He Himself fashions, a place not made with hands. Not made with hands. How unlike the complicated works of man! Machines, and still machines--Mechanism everywhere. And God is at a great remove, remote, merely an abstract thought. Indeed, He is too wholly disconnected from human interests to be regarded with anything approaching to the passionate affection which marks the lif e in Christ.

How privileged, then, are we, if God has linked us up with Himself in that wonderful thought of His which is one great eternal now! And, in keeping with such recognition, His declarations are continual reminders of the tie. They keep us in touch with the sourc e of life and peace.

Would we be living, having in true exercise the faculties and functions of spirit, soul, and body? Then it will be on the "strong meat," the solid nurture for the mature. It is not sufficiently realized how much we live by words. And yet we do, consciously or unconsciously. But it should be consciously, and by words which befit our calling and estate in the purpose of God.

Let us then, take into account God's own teaching, in all its native strength and clarity. We can do without creeds. As a boy intelligently said to his father, "Why have creed? It seems to leave out a lot, and to put in some things that one isn't very sure about. " It is like trying to take some of the beauty of a spacious landscape , to confine it within the limits of a garden. Plants may be arranged, but the human touch fails somewhere.

There are times when we feel we must take words from their setting that we may dwell on their value to our hearts. But it is often more thrilling to the spirit to view them in the mass, to note them as a whole, in long clauses, or even books.

Thy Word is like a precious mine,
     Where jewels buried lie;
Some gem bestow of heavenly worth,
Unsullied by corrupted earth,
     Which others have passed by.