Bread of Life

"I am the bread of life"













The inspiration for this blog entry comes from two thoughts: 1) Approach of the holiday Season and all the good food that comes with it. 2) I have already put on my holiday weight and am thinking about a pre-holiday diet. Not good.

Anyway, I did some research on various medical websites and there are many common symptoms that will manifest themselves if you dont eat. Several days or even a week, being underfed for even just one day can cause:
·Irritability
·Low moral
·Lethargy
·Physical Weakness
·Confusion and disorientation
·Poor judgment
·Weakened immune system
·Inability to maintain body temperature which can lead to hypothermia, heat exhaustion, or even heat stroke.

Interestingly, I found many spiritual equivalents in Christians, if they don’t ”spiritually” eat. What am I talking about, you ask? One of the most well known dissertations of Jesus in the area of "spiritual eating" is found in John Chapter 6:

"..And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst...I am that bread of life."

I look back into times in my life where I was a "lethargic" Christian. During those times, I was not eating from the bread of life. I was on a self-imposed spiritual diet. It was not a healthy kind of diet but a fasting kind of worldly diet. The fast from the Word of God left me in a spiritual condition where I exhibited the exact same symptoms spiritually, as the physical symptoms listed above were exhibited physically, as a result of fasting from physical food. For example, here are some spiritual equivalents of the list:

·Spiritual irritability (that one needs no explanation).
·Low moral (lack of positive spiritual motivation). You might think:" God doesnt care about me anymore or I just am not interested in Him anymore".
·Lethargy (low Spiritual "drive"). Just dont feel like going to Church, praying, or thinking about God's work or people anymore.
·Spiritual weakness (low Spiritual energy).
·Confusion and disorientation (God doesnt seem to be in control anymore..why are things going to pieces?).
·Poor judgement (day to day life decisions are based on feelings and not Spiritual concepts).
·Weakened spiritual immune system (Satan loves this one).
·Inability to maintain spiritual temperature (The warmth of God's love has grown cold because you are not close to the spiritual fire, otherwise known as the Holy Spirit, anymore).

You can probably add to this list. The point is that without constant, daily spiritual feeding on the "Bread of Life" (Jesus), our Spirit will begin to exhibit symptoms just like our physical bodies do when we dont eat. If you are a Christian and dont quite understand this, I challenge you to remember times in your life when you were feeding regularly on the Bread of Life. Did you not feel the warmth of
God's presence strongly? Did you feel full in your spirit with the joy and peace of the Lord? What is different now, than then? You will probably find, as I have, that I need that Bread of Life daily and now more than ever.

By the way, here is a little "seasonal" trivia for you. The name of the birthplace of Jesus fits this analogy of the bread of life, quite well. Bethlehem in Hebrew means "house of bread". A coincidence?

Have a Blessed Day!
George