I AM the bread of Life.

I have to admit, doing my devotions was a challenge this morning. I'm all distracted inside...I want to walk the dogs, feed the family, and then get ready for our day. We're going to the Toronto Sportsman's Show today. Should be fun... and I'm sitting here thinking...I want to get ready I want to go! I know, I know...I'm putting my plans before God. NOT GOOD. So it has taken me some time to get disciplined enough to ready and actually think about what God has placed before me today. Do you ever have times like that?

For the Lenten season, Pastor Jim has been preaching through the "I AM" statements of Christ. So when I read John 6 this morning, it seemed very familiar to me.

The context... Jesus had just fed a whole whack of hungry people from just a small amount of food. HUGE miracle. People would have been stunned. Food was one of their major purchases for folks back then. They didn't waste their money on cars, homes, tv's and the like. The money they had they used (for the most part) on real basic necessities .. food, clothing and shelter. So when Jesus fed them for free they thought whoohoo! free food! life is good. Let's follow this fellow around.

And so they did. They wanted more free food. Part of me can't really blame them. If I know I have a good source for free stuff I'm more inclined to frequent that place as well. :)

So when they found Jesus the next day, Jesus was up front with them

26Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."

He pointed them to something more. Not just food food, but real food, spiritual food. They didn't get it. So they asked

28Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?"

29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

I can just see them going huh? What does this man mean? What kind of proof can he offer us? And then they hit on this:

30So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

Jesus explained to them just where that manna(bread) really came from.

32Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

Still thinking that Jesus meant just food food, they asked Jesus to give them that bread all the time. They still didn't get the spiritual overtones of this conversation.

Then Jesus made it more clear to them.

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."

And they didn't like that. This was Jesus, they have known him from a boy child! He was bread? He was life? Huh? So they grumbled about it.

41So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

Jesus tells them not to grumble about it, and goes on to explain further what he means.

43Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- 46not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

For every dispute that the people had for him, Jesus had an answer and further explained what he meant. Even when his own disciples didn't get it, Jesus just explained further. "I am the bread of Life".

63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

What it all comes down to is.... believe in Christ, not yourselves, and you will be saved.
Jesus is the life giver. He gives us, he IS the very bread of life.

We must do all that we can to live as Christ, to let Christ dwell within us.
Without Christ, we cannot live forever.

His teachings, his Spirit, his very self we must take within ourselves. That is all we can do.