Friday, September 13, 2013

Living Bread


  


“’I am the living bread that comes down from heaven.
If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever
This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’”
John 6:51 (NIV)
    


Jesus spoke these words to the Jews. The listeners argued among themselves. They didn’t believe what they heard.
Just as bread is basic to our survival, Jesus is essential to our spiritual health. In John chapter six, Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life five times (6:33, 38, 41, 51, and 58.) The Jewish listeners couldn’t process the thought that Jesus compared Himself to something so different and yet so basic.
My research on this passage shows me that Jesus is essential to our spiritual nourishment as bread is to our physical strength1.“He claimed to be the genuine source of spiritual life and nourishment.”
Just as our physical bodies become run down without our eating of the proper foods, our spirits need to take in Jesus and His teachings in order to grow in our awareness and knowledge of Him. 


1.Gleaned from The Gospel of John, The Daily Study Bible Series, by William Barclay © 1975 p.220

2. The Discovery Study Bible, by Zondervan © 2004 p. 1401

Graphic: Turnbacktogod.com

6 comments:

  1. Yes, Jesus is the living bread that nourishes and satisfies our soul hunger. What a fellowship and joy divine we share with Him as we partake of His soul food. Thank you for these thoughts today.

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    1. You're welcome, Pam.Thank you for stopping in. Sometimes we get 'soul hungry.' Nothing satisfies us like a season of prayer with Jesus. I am beginning a new project at church that has already required me to pray and to seek prayer from others. And He has answered some of them already.

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  2. My daily bread indeed, the Word feeds my spirit, everytime!

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    Replies
    1. Marja: Thank you for stopping in. God's Word is a wonderful way to feed ourselves when we are spiritually hungry.

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  3. Jesus was very bold to openly proclaim himself the bread of life, when he knew he'd be misunderstood and persecuted for it. I admire his obedience to the Father, and long to be like him.

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  4. Hi Cecelia! I like your analogy to giving our bodies good food. We have to go to good sources of life in Jesus to learn more about him too.

    Bread is so basic, remember when it was called the 'building block of life'? Our bread is the Lord, our spiritual building block!

    Thanks for this well-researched post today!
    Ceil

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I would be honored to hear what you think about this.

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