Lent - Day Fifteen - Food for Eternal Life

Lent Devotions from Concordia University 2024

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

John 6:32-33

In this chapter, we have seen provision and protection come from Jesus. He desires to give even more. Jesus calls us to hear his word, which promises life and salvation.

Sometimes I wonder if my interest in his promise of eternal life isn’t still, in some ways, wrapped up in my stomach being filled for today. It is as if my mind works it so that this promise of eternal life somehow relieves my worry about the provision I need not only today, but three days from now, three months from now, three years from now, even thirty years from now. If God desires to give me eternal life, then he will certainly take care of this, that, and the other thing. If Jesus wants to give me eternal life, then surely everything else in life will be taken care of until my life’s end.

It’s not that these things are not important. Clearly, God is concerned with our daily needs. But the bread that we eat feeds for a day. Jesus wants to give the bread that leads to eternal life. While we are often consumed by needs of the moment, Jesus also sees our souls that are starved because of sin. While we are often concerned with fears about our future, Jesus sees our malnourished spirits on the brink of death, ravenously desperate for his life-giving word. And so, he would not only feed us with bread, but with himself. He invites us to cling to him, feed on him, and be nourished by him, for he and he alone is the life-giving food. He gives salvation to body and soul. In his mercy and wisdom, he provides all that is needed. Great is his faithfulness!

Prayer:

Father,
           "Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see; All I have needed Thy hand hath provided; Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!" Amen.

Refrain from the Hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”, Thomas O Chisholm. Hope Publishing Co, 1923.

Further Reading - John 6:28-59

28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

41 So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

Wheaties

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.’ ”
Matthew 4:4 NKJV

I love bread - especially when it's freshly baked and crusty on the outside, still warm from the oven. I used to think I could live on that... but you can't. As good as it is, it doesn't contain all the nutrients we need to thrive. And I don't see us winning in hand-to-hand combat by whacking someone with a loaf of bread.

Jesus was fasting in the wilderness when this confrontation with satan occurred. He was hungry but He understood that only one thing gives life everlasting - God's Word. He was in the battle for ALL of our lives and what weapon did He choose to use and WIN? It is written...  the written Word of God! Ephesians calls it our sword - in the armor of God, the Word is our only weapon used for offense. Jesus did not turn stones into bread, He was more hungry to do God's will. What are we more hungry for?

Isn't it marvelous that Jesus Christ is both the Word of God and the Bread of Life (John 6)? 

The very Truth that Christ fought His battle with "It is written..." should tell us that to win, we must do the same. We must fight using the same weapon, and keep up our strength and live by the Bread of Life. Are we as diligent to devour the Word as we are our Wheaties?

Prayer:

Father,

         You are our Source for life - abundant and everlasting! Only You can teach us to war and win against the enemy of our souls. Help us, Father! Give us understanding as we take in Your Word. Birth in us anew a fire to feast on Your Word. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen 

Friends' Favorites - Our Daily Bread

Meanwhile, the disciples were finding fault with each other because they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus overheard and said, "Why are you fussing because you forgot bread? Don't you see the point of all this? Don't you get it at all? Remember the five loaves I broke for the five thousand? How many baskets of leftovers did you pick up?"
They said, "Twelve."
"And the seven loaves for the four thousand—how many bags full of leftovers did you get?"
"Seven."
He said, "Do you still not get it?"
Mark 8:16-21 The Message

I know quite a few people who won't have anything to do with eating leftovers. They just refuse. I don't always understand that, but to each his own, I guess. I don't have a problem with most leftovers. In fact, some things I'll fix just so they will be leftover because they taste better the second time around. Other things, I won't eat after the first round of it. Funny thing is, I've discovered God is the same way about that.

God cares about the leftovers. Scripture tells us that when partaking of the Passover Feast, one is never to eat the leftovers. And in Leviticus, the Israelites were never to eat leftovers from an offering made for thanksgiving. On the other hand, God made provision for the priests and their families from the leftovers of other offerings and He described the leftovers as "most holy."

We all know the stories of how Jesus fed the 5,000 with five loaves of bread and two fish, with twelve baskets leftover (Matthew 14). And how He fed the 4,000 with 7 loaves and a few fish, and had seven sacks of leftovers (Matthew 15). But did you know there's another story involving Elisha and twenty loaves of bread?

Here, read it for yourself - 2nd Kings 4:42-44 The Message.
One day a man arrived from Baal Shalishah. He brought the man of God twenty loaves of fresh-baked bread from the early harvest, along with a few apples from the orchard.
Elisha said, “Pass it around to the people to eat.”
His servant said, “For a hundred men? There’s not nearly enough!”
Elisha said, “Just go ahead and do it. God says there’s plenty.”
And sure enough, there was. He passed around what he had—they not only ate, but had leftovers.

Old testament, new testament, it doesn't much matter when we're dealing with God's ability to multiply. When it comes to the Bread of Life Himself, I'll take the loaf, the leftovers, or even any crumbs.

It's all good.

Prayer:

Father,
           We will gladly eat from the table You set before us in the presence of our enemies and we are more than grateful for it. Give us this day, Lord, our daily bread. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen

Bread Lovers

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you the bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again."
John 6:32-35a NLT

How are you doing with your New Year resolution(s)? I'm sure you know the number one resolution is to lose weight/get healthy, yet on average, more than 80% fail to keep their resolution. It's not easy. I don't want to admit that I've tried most of the diets that are out there, and I think I could be more successful if someone else would cook the food. I really enjoy a lot of the recipes but I hate to cook. That being said, the only recipe I didn't mind making on a regular basis was the alternate bread recipes. I would fire up the oven even in the summer and knead the dough because I.love.bread...of any kind.

One of my favorite Scriptures used to be Give us this day our daily bread...  The reality is, as you well know, that's a request for provision, not as a response to polyphagia. However, just as we require sustenance for our physical needs to live, how much more do we require sustenance for our spiritual wellbeing? John 1:1-2 tells us, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. In Scripture, bread is symbolic of the Word of God, and Jesus confirms it when He tells us He is the Bread of Life, the true bread. 

Think about this for a moment. We don't physically fast 6 days a week on a regular basis, so why would we think we could fast spiritually for ANY days, let alone from one Sunday to the next with no bread in between? In a world obsessed with fat-free, zero-calorie, and net carbs, we need to become Bread lovers once again.

Prayer:

Father, 

          Let us be able to say and live our lives as Job declared, I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. In Jesus' Name we pray. Amen