Bread Of Life

Bread of Life  

   

I was reading John 6 recently during a time when I was struggling to see how God would provide for the needs of my household. When I have a need, I look at it is an opportunity to trust in God and learn something about Him. I have come to learn that the satisfaction of my perceived needs is not primarily what God is after in the midst of a trial. At our core, we are spiritual beings who have spiritual needs. Our spiritual nature is that in us which was designed to relate to God personally. He has set “eternity in our hearts” Ecclesiastes tells us.  When we don’t realize our need for God Himself, we begin to live on a lower level of existence - becoming enslaved to the pursuit of satisfying lesser, temporal needs. God is concerned with our temporary needs but He calls us to seek Him for something much greater than food and clothing: His kingdom and His righteousness. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount that we are not to allow the worry of having enough food and clothing to eclipse the pursuit of God Himself (His righteousness) and the expression of His dominion in our lives (His kingdom). There is a propensity in us to self-preserve and secure our comfort through money and it seems perfectly justifiable in the world’s eyes. When we are in need it is easy in this culture to revert to this vain pursuit. If we give ourselves over to this over and over again something disastrous happens, we can become affluent outwardly and yet be spiritually bankrupt. It is possible to be a Christian and be influenced by the world’s notion of being prosperous.

In John 6, Jesus fed multitudes miraculously with the multiplication of bread and fish. The crowds ate and declared that Jesus was truly a prophet. Their response was so strong that Jesus had to remove Himself from the situation or else they would make Him king “by force” the Scripture says (6:14-15). God’s plan for Jesus being King is not according to man’s ideas or ability. No sooner did the crowds find out that Jesus left the next day did they come to where He was. Jesus addressed them and tried to get them to see that the miracle of provision wasn’t merely to feed their physical appetite: it was to awaken them for their need for Him and to show them that God wanted to meet that need (6:25-34). John’s Gospel is filled with one sign and wonder after another in which Jesus met people’s needs so that they might place their trust in Him.

What God challenged me on in is this: would I be like the crowd or like one of His disciples? Jesus explained in a spiritually literal way that His body and blood was to be given so that we could have life. Jesus’s body was broken and blood spilled out for a very real, eternal need that we have and often don’t realize that we have. Jesus said, “that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life” (John 6:40). The word “look” in the original Greek does not refer to merely seeing with the natural eye but perceiving or contemplation of the mind. It refers to who we believe Jesus to be. For an unbeliever, there has to be an initial recognition of a need that can only be met in Jesus. They may not be able to verbalize the need and, in His compassion, God will meet them in their circumstances through natural needs to lead to trusting in Him for eternal life. For the believer, the challenge is to keep a steady gaze or perception of Jesus. What I felt challenged in is do I seek Jesus for His providential blessings as the crowds did? They praised Him when He met their natural need for food but they left when He diagnosed their eternal need. Jesus was offering them something that would satisfy their eternal needs and they forsook the offer! When Jesus asked His disciples if they too would leave their response was “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69). What separates a disciple from a member of the crowd is a confession of who Jesus is based on having tasted of Him through His word.

I was challenged as to whether I would seek for the “bread from heaven” that Jesus spoke of. Jesus said to labor for it not because we have to earn it per se but because it is promised to those who will seek Him for it. Jesus promised that anyone who comes to Him He will in no way cast out. This is a glorious promise to the person who realizes that they are a sinner and their ongoing need is to be in union with the One who saves us by His life. This speaks of His finished work on the cross and our experience of trusting in Him on this side of eternity. Not only does He meet our needs but He meets them according to His riches and glory. He meets our needs in a way that will result in Him being glorified in our lives. Psalm 50:15 testifies to this: "call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” The question is: are we primarily seeking Him or the satisfaction of our need?