by Clay Myatt, College Student and Former CVC Intern
The Bible is crystal clear in stating the Christian life cannot be lived alone. It is meant to be lived in community where we can be daily encouraged and, if necessary, rebuked so we’re not “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
However, I have come to learn both from my own experience and the Bible that there are seasons in life when it is difficult to find community (i.e. stepping onto a college campus for the first time and taking time to build friendships). Additionally, there are times when fellow Christians fail you. It is in these times when it becomes all the more important to know how to feed off of the Word of God so our faith may be sustained. That is how I would define a self-feeder: one who is able to take verses from the Bible then, through prayer and the illumination of the Holy Spirit, apply them to his/her heart.
For my life now in college—self-feeding looks like this: I spend each morning reading the Bible (using a Bible reading plan) and praying that God will help me fix my gaze on Jesus before I start my day. Because the reality is that I wake up every single morning feeling either guilty from sins committed the day before or anxious about what lies ahead. What I need more than anything is to see the glory of Christ, especially in the gospel where Jesus bore my sins on the cross and now smiles down on me in love. When that happens, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that I am “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
So the fruit of being a self-feeder is transformation, because the glory of Christ eclipses our guilt and anxieties and makes us look more like Jesus.
In college that has meant, among other things, standing boldly for Christ in the classroom, fighting for purity, and loving my suite-mates and those I encounter each day.
Here’s a quote from John Owen, who knew so well how to commune with Jesus through self-feeding:
“Christ is our best friend and ere long will be our only friend…Friendship is most maintained and kept up by visits.”
