Going Beyond The Shallows

It is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread.”    John 6:32-34

When Jesus met a Samaritan woman at a local well, they had a conversation about water and thirst.  Using that as a segue way, He told her that there was such a thing as ‘spiritual water,’ something that could satisfy her thirst forever after just one drink.  When the woman felt the urge to experience it for herself, she asked Him for a drink of this water.  Immediately, he pointed out her deepest spiritual need.

Similarly, in this John 6 passage, Jesus interacts with a crowd of people who have just witnessed Him feeding five thousand people with a meager amount of bread and fish.  He tells them that there is such a thing as spiritual bread, a bread that comes from heaven, a meal that forever satisfies.  They ask Him for that kind of bread.  Immediately, He takes them on a steep learning curve. 

He reminds them that He is the ‘Bread’ that will erase hunger and ‘Water’ that will eradicate thirst.  Then He says, “But you don’t believe Me!”  Their unbelief keeps them shallow, only looking to Him for temporal solutions to earth-bound crises.  They miss out on the richest gifts, spiritual food that satisfies their innate ache for God.  If they would only come as beggars to the table, they would be filled.  Forever. 

Show me my true spiritual needs today.  Amen

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