LIFE WITHOUT BREAD
In cultures with an abundance of food choices, bread is no longer a
necessary part of the diet so some choose to live without it for various
reasons. In the first century, however, bread was viewed as an essential
staple. A diet without bread was a foreign concept.
One day a crowd of people sought out Jesus because He had performed the
miracle of multiplying loaves of bread (John 6:11,26). They asked Him to
perform a sign like the manna from heaven that God had provided for His people
in the desert (6:30-31; Ex. 16:4). When Jesus said He was “the true bread from
heaven” (John 6:32), the people didn’t understand. They wanted literal daily
bread. But Jesus was saying that He had been sent to be their spiritual bread;
He would supply their daily spiritual needs. If they, by faith, applied and
took His words and life into their very souls, they would experience
everlasting satisfaction (v.35).
Jesus doesn’t want to be an optional commodity in our diets; He desires
to be the essential staple in our lives, our “necessary” food. As first-century
Jews could never imagine life without physical bread, may we never attempt to
live without Jesus, our spiritual bread!
Only spiritual bread satisfies the hunger of the soul. (RBC)
