John 6:63
It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
Jesus spoke these words to His disciples when they struggled to understand Him.
He was speaking of spiritual things, of feeding on Him as the bread of life, and drinking His blood.
Jesus tells them He is speaking spiritually, but some do not understand.
The Lord is explaining that this is spiritual and not physical.
The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life.
Fleshly eating does not give spiritual life.
Neither do our physical efforts produce spiritual life.
Instead, what Jesus speaks from the Holy Spirit, His teachings, bring us spiritual life.
These words call us to come to Jesus for salvation, to gain eternal life.
Then the Holy Spirit helps us to understand Christ's words, believe, and act upon those teachings.
In that way the Holy Spirit helps us to grow into a likeness of our Lord.
This spiritual growth does show in the physical world in acts of love for others.
However, most of the change is inward, in our hearts, our spirit.
The outward signs, the faithful actions of love, are the fruits of the salvation growing in us.
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