Bread of Life

The Bread of Life

 I absolutely love bread! It is truly a weakness of mine!

 Have you ever gone to a restaurant that brings bread before you order? Some places have rolls or breadsticks that are so good that after the first roll or breadstick, you lose your mind! After 2 or 3 rolls, they come to take your order, but you continue to eat the bread. By the time the food you ordered comes, you find that you’re not hungry for what you thought you wanted!

  My daughter Ally recently thought she would try her hand at baking bread. She had spent weeks working to perfect her recipe. When she finally got it just right, the whole family gathered in the kitchen to sample it just before dinner. It was perfect! Absolutely delicious. It was warm, light and fluffy. We ended up eating every crumb, no one was hungry for dinner anymore!

  In both examples, the consumption of delicious hot bread leaves you full, needing little else! That’s what happens when people get the bread of life. That’s what happens when we get Jesus. We become so full of His love, so full of His power, so full of His truth, so full of His grace… we don’t have capacity for foolishness anymore! Filling ourselves with the bread of life, Jesus, can fill the void that we spend a lifetime trying to fill with hobbies, addictions, unhealthy relationships, distractions, false idols, etc...  I know, because I have fallen into all these categories at some point.

  Bread gives to the body what Christ Jesus gives to the soul. Manna, as He gave to the Israelites in the desert, and the loaves (and fishes) He gave to the disciples and the five thousand on the mountain, gave bodily nourishment. But it was a temporary fulfillment. We will need more bread to keep living. But the nourishment God gives our soul, through the sacrifice of Jesus, gives us everlasting life. Through that gift, we are renewed day after day as God feeds our soul.

  We say so much about Jesus sometimes that we forget how impactful He really is. We get used to hearing stories of Jesus. When we are not in the Word and studying scripture, somehow these Sunday School stories start to feel mundane. We lose the wonder of Him.  

  He said things like “I’m the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35) Funny thing about bread, Bread holds weight in our bodies. It’s filling, it’s satisfying.

  What Jesus is saying is, He’s not just here to save you, I’m also here to satisfy you!

Ethan Pierce, just a guy

Nashville TN

For reference…

John 6:

³² Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Ally's beautiful loaves!