The Bread of Life

Have you ever gone to a restaurant and filled up on the bread they offer before the meal?

By the time the food arrives, if you’ve eaten too much bread, you don’t even really want what you ordered because you are so full.

So often, we look for things that we think will satisfy the needs, and desires inside of us. We are desperate to find something to satisfy the longings and cravings we feel.

We might turn to food, drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. We look to people or things to satisfy these cravings, not realizing that these vices don’t truly satisfy…they don’t fully meet the needs, or longings, or desires that exist inside of us. These things may satisfy for a moment. They may offer a brief escape. They may distract and offer a false sense of satisfaction but it’s temporary.

The only thing that will truly satisfy you is Jesus.

In John 6:35, Jesus was talking with the crowd of people who followed Him across the sea of Galilee. These were the same people who had just been fed by the 5 loaves and 2 fishes. Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. Come every day to me and you will never be hungry. Believe in me and you will never be thirsty."

Just the day before, He had just fed them with physical food but he was talking to them on a much deeper level than just physical hunger.

He was saying to them (and to us), Come to me and recognize that nothing in life will satisfy you completely. Nothing will adequately “fill you” until you don’t need anything more…….except me.

Recognize that there are places inside of yourself that long for something. There are places inside of you that feel empty, that feel broken. There are places that feel a hunger for love, for safety, for peace, for joy, for wholeness; and nothing…NOTHING will satisfy you like Jesus can.

You can try. You can attempt to satisfy yourself with people and things; but when you are so full of Jesus, when you are so full of His love and His strength and His power and His glory, you won’t need anything else.

There are things in your life that currently tempt you. Even if you know they aren’t right or won’t satisfy. When you are hungry, temptation is hard to resist. But… when you are so full of Jesus, those things won’t tempt you in the same way.

When you’re full, you just don’t want anything else.

Be so full of Jesus - of the Bread of Life - that when faced with the things you used to consume in an attempt satisfy yourself, you won’t even want them anymore because you are full.