Day 2 – Issue 13

Be Still Know

John 6:27a NLT

‘But don’t be so concerned about perishable things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man can give you.’

Every so often I allow my imagination to focus on what life might be like if I won the lottery. Of course, to win I have to purchase a ticket, which I haven’t, so herein lies part of the madness in my illusory, escapist dream. Yet the heartbeat of that dream is the fact that I would be set up for life financially and the assumption is that the majority of my concerns and anxieties would be resolved. I’m not sure it might be so!

Jesus, the day following feeding over 5,000 people, found himself surrounded by the same crowd, and more, who were no doubt inspired by the story of how he miraculously fed a massive crowd. Jesus quickly identifies that their great fascination and apparent commitment to him was simply because he represented a free meal ticket. Their physical need for food might be met forever.

However, Jesus used miracles to indicate eternal truths and capture the attention of a godless world. The miraculous feeding demonstrated the truth that no one can live by physical bread alone.

There is within the heart of every one of us a God-shaped gap. Many ignore it, having developed a host of views about the irrelevance of God. Yet this inner hunger from the heart leads them to explore a variety of possible foods to assuage their gnawing hunger pangs. In the short term, some relief might be found, but ultimately that hunger re-emerges, stronger than ever.

Jesus is indeed the Bread of Heaven who will end the hunger pangs, yet not as a convenience food. God is not here to serve our every need; he invites us to make ourselves available to serve his purposes in the earth.

QUESTION: Honestly consider, why is it you pursue Jesus?

PRAYER: Jesus, I am hungry not simply for what you give, but to know you more and to be more like you.