Tag: Bread of Life

Devotionals

Spiritual Hunger and Thirst

Loring Schultz

“Jesus replied, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” John 6:35 NLT

Photo by Kamil Szumotalski on Unsplash

Satisfying our physical hunger and thirst is rather easy. There are a variety of foods to choose from when we are hungry. Usually, we select something we like and enjoy and after partaking our hunger is satisfied. The same holds true for quenching our thirst. It’s not very pleasing to drink something not enjoyable to us. We make sure, if possible, we get what we like. But the fact is, if we have a meal with our favorite food and beverage, it will satisfy for the moment, but it doesn’t last, and we will need to eat and drink again. Our physical bodies need to be refueled daily, and the Lord supplies what we need to survive in this life.

Spiritual hunger and thirst work similarly in satisfying our souls. We try what we like, something non-judgmental, inclusive, non-committal, and feels good. Just like physical hunger and thirst, it satisfies for a while, but spiritual hunger and thirst comes back. When we try to fill our souls with what we like we will never be satisfied, because we are filling our souls with the temporary. What we need is something that will fill us eternally. Our souls have a spiritual craving to be filled and satisfied for eternity and it can only be accomplished by a relationship with Jesus Christ, God the Son.

Jesus used the illustration of the necessity of bread for survival in physical life with Himself as the spiritual bread which will satisfy forever and necessary for eternal life. “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (Jn.6:35 nlt) God provides the bread we need to survive in our physical bodies. The same is true for our souls, God has provided the only food possible to satisfy our craving for spiritual things and for eternal life, His Son, Jesus Christ. Nothing else satisfies, but Christ.

All the religions of the world and churches who do not adhere to God’s Word for the truth of salvation will leave you empty and continually searching for truth and satisfaction. God has provided the only way for you to be filled and satisfied spiritually in this life and guaranteed eternal life, it is Jesus! You can satisfy your spiritual hunger and thirst by accepting Christ as your personal savior. No need to be refueled.

Bible Studies

I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE: Jesus’ seven “I AM” statements- 1

Loring Schultz

“Jesus replied, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’” John 6:35 NLT

FreeBibleimages.org

            Each of the four gospel writers in the New Testament portray Jesus in a manner to stress a certain characteristic of the Son of God. The gospels together create a perfect portrait of Jesus. Matthew’s main focus is on Jesus as the Jewish Messiah and King. Mark, writing to a mostly a Roman Gentile audience focuses on Jesus the servant. Luke with a much broader Gentile audience portrays Jesus as the Son of Man, focusing on His humanity. The apostle John writes to prove the deity of Jesus so that all may believe Jesus is the Son of God, and that believing they may have life in His name. Included in John’s gospel is the seven ‘I Am’ statements Jesus made. We will look at these statements over the next seven weeks.

            Bread is a staple food item that sustains nourishment to our physical bodies. Other staple food products would include; milk, eggs, fruits, vegetables, fish, poultry and other various meat products. But bread seems to have cornered the market (pun intended) on what foods are necessary to stock up on before an approaching snowstorm in my part of the Untied States along with milk and eggs.

            Physical hunger has been satisfied, physical bodies were nourished, and lives sustained for thousands of years by the bread provided for us through the baking process. Our bodies need food to survive. Many people who were in the crowd when Jesus fed the five thousand followed after Him the next day and Jesus rebuked them saying “I tell you the truth, you want to be with me because I fed you, not because you understood the miraculous signs. (Jn.6:26 nlt)

            The followers were only thinking of the physical, the here and now, much like we do today. Jesus then proceeded to tell them to believe in Him. He was the bread of God which came down from heaven and gives life to the world, in which they responded “always give us this bread.” (Jn.6:33-34) Again, only thinking in physical terms, the same is true today.

            Jesus declares, “I am the bread of life.” Those who accept Jesus (the bread of life) for Salvation will receive the nourishment needed to sustain eternal life. This is the first of seven “I AM” statements that Jesus made in the Gospel of John concerning His deity and the message of Salvation. Have you received “Jesus the bread of life?”

Read: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%206%3A22-51&version=NLT