January 18 Your Response?

John 6:36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
 
LET’s try to be in the crowd as Jesus teaches. In the past few minutes, he has transformed bread, mankind’s most basic food, into “he”. With stunning, unbelievable language, this miracle-working rabbi from little Nazareth has said, “The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Wow! God’s bread is “he” from heaven? Is this “he”, Jesus, going to feed the world? Then Jesus stretches your ability to believe even more, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.” It seems the more he says, the more reasons you have to say, “I don’t believe!”
   What would you do in that circumstance? You were at the “5,000 Feast” the day before this. You watched each of his closest disciples distribute bread to you and the others. The bread was real bread. And none came from the heaven or the sky. What’s more, you’re hungry again today!
   How would you respond to Jesus that day? How do you respond today? Perhaps you can understand why the gospel is difficult for new ears to hear. No one, including the Twelve that day, even remotely understood his teachings. Yes, how would you have responded?  
   The Jewish authorities and the crowd needed to do what Jesus closest disciples did. They stayed with him. Again, the discipleship lesson we have seen in John 6 is to 1) Acknowledge Jesus – “It is the Lord!” 2) Invite Jesus into your presence – “Come in, Jesus.” 3) Learn from Jesus. “I’m listening, Jesus.” 4) Act into what he says. “I’m eager to get up and go with you, Lord.”
    Our limited minds require steady steps to grasp God’s unlimited essence. That’s why each rising of the sun must stir a rising hunger for the Lord God, satisfied only with the Bread of Life.
   Be consistent to seek your Lord’s truth. Hunger for understanding. Savor his eternal goodness. Live nourished in Jesus, the Bread of Life.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Holy Spirit, for placing the Bread of Life on my heart. I pray I consume him daily to know and savor the sweet taste of his salvation on my soul. In Jesus’ name, amen.