Preserving food has been a struggle since the dawn of man.

Moist, warm foods like fresh milk or chicken can multiply bacteria every 20 minutes. So, our ancestors came up with all sorts of ways to preserve them — salting, smoking, pickling, drying, even chilling under water. Finally, in the 1800s, canning was invented, and then, thanks to Thomas Moore and his experiments with icing food in his bathtub, the refrigerator was born.

We’ve come a long way to safe eating. But, as Matthew Henry writes in his commentary on this verse, working to provide for ourselves shouldn’t be our chief business.

There is something more satisfying to our spirits than having a nice place to sit with good food to eat. Deep down, what we really desire is working for things that last, to make imprints in the world, to create things eternal. THAT is what feeds us. It’s what we truly need.

This “meat” for our souls, as Jesus calls it, may be interwoven into our jobs or in laboring for our family’s needs. Perhaps it is seeing our helpless neighbor and offering what we can. It’s being overcome with thankfulness; it’s offering God genuine praise.

Every time we extend love, we are taking satisfying bites that feed our spirits and will do so for eternity.