What do Christians need during a time of pandemic? This question has been on the minds of a lot of people today and it has been answered in many different ways by sincere, honest Christians who are genuinely concerned for one another’s wellbeing. This author would suggest that our spiritual needs are similar to our physical needs.

Physically, we need food, water, shelter, and safety to survive. During the lockdown, the government has shut down all commerce except that which was deemed essential to our physical survival. This dealt with but is not limited to — grocery stores, general merchandise stores, clothing stores, etc. and was done to keep the public safe and physically well. The lockdown covered all of the physical needs — food, water, shelter, and safety. This is what the Christian needs in order to be spiritually healthy as well — spiritual food (Matt. 4:4), water (John 4:13-14), shelter (Ps. 127:1), and safety (Phil. 4:6-7).

If we were to deprive ourselves of even one of our essential physical needs, we would die physically. Likewise, we also need spiritual food, water, shelter, and safety to survive. If we deprive ourselves of even one of these spiritual needs, we die spiritually (Rom. 6:23).

The spiritual body needs food. “But He answered and said, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”’ (Matt. 4:4). Depriving ourselves of spiritual food will bring spiritual starvation.

In today’s society, the generally accepted healthy physical diet includes breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This means that we eat three times a day, but it does not mean that if we skip one meal a day that we are generally considered unhealthy; however, not very many Americans are going to skip a meal. Some might consider skipping one meal, but we are not going to miss too many because we understand that our physical bodies need nourishment. Likewise, every single word that comes out of the mouth of God is necessary for our spiritual nourishment; therefore, not a single word can be skipped or overlooked.

We need multiple spiritual meals a day packed with the nutrition of God’s Word to be spiritually healthy and avoid starvation. The spiritual body also needs water. “Jesus answered and said to her ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life’” (John 4:13- 14).

The body’s physical need of water can never be entirely quenched. If one stops drinking, he will dehydrate and eventually die. This is true of spiritual water as well, but the spiritual water Jesus is talking about “will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” Continual, persistent study of God’s Word becomes a fountain of knowledge we call faith. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). Faith then springs up into eternal life (Rom. 1:16). It is in the drinking of this water that Christ gives us (His Word) that the Christian never thirsts again (John 4:10). We need to thirst for the living water (Matt. 5:6) to be spiritually quenched.

The body needs spiritual shelter; the Christian needs a spiritual house built by God. “Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain” (Ps. 127:1). A physical house is not physically built by God and the labor is not physically vain. Even if God is not present in the building of the house, it will still perform its physical function. The physical labor is not in vain, because it will still have worldly value. However, if the Lord does not build the spiritual house, the spiritual labor will be in vain because it will not provide spiritual shelter; therefore, it will have no spiritual value. The only value will be physical, and the physical will perish. Spiritual shelter comes from laying your treasure up in heaven (Matt. 6:19-20). This is accomplished when we allow the Lord to build our house (1 Cor. 3:11).

Finally, the Christian needs spiritual safety. “Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7). The government has been trying to keep us physically safe, but it cannot keep us spiritually safe. We have to be careful regarding worrying too much about our physical safety, because it can compromise our spiritual safety. Worry exceeds simple concern when it distracts us from obeying God’s commands (Matt. 6:25- 34).

We have spiritual safety when everything we do in word or deed is done in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him (Col. 3:17). If we do not have the Lord’s authority for everything we do, then we do not have spiritual safety and our hearts and minds are not being guarded through Christ Jesus. This causes us to be in danger of being spiritually lost (Luke 13:3,5).

Every human being must have spiritual food, water, shelter, and safety to survive spiritually and this is only accomplished when we set our minds on the things above, not on the things of the earth (Col. 3:2). As you take care of your physical needs, do not forget your spiritual needs or you will end up separated from God and spiritually dead (Isa. 59:1-2). This is something each Christian truly needs to be concerned about, because “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?” (Heb. 2:3a).