“Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’ “
************************
The more time I spend reading the Bible, the more I see God disclosing new things to me in His Word. Verses which I have said or read dozens, if not hundreds, of times come to mean new things to me.
One of these insights came recently from reading this section of John’s Gospel in relation to the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus gives to us in Matthew chapter 6 and Luke chapter 11.
Growing up, I remember a plate my Grandma Bonnie had at her house which was often used at mealtimes to serve bread. It was an oval, pewter plate with a harvest scene on it. Around the depiction of men reaping in the fields were the words “give us this day our daily bread.” I always thought the words in the prayer were basically saying, “God, don’t let us go hungry today; please make sure we have enough to eat.”
Just recently, when reading John chapter 6, I realized, Jesus is not talking about food for our physical nourishment, He is talking about Himself. He is talking about the Word. His prayer, given to us, is just a beautiful way to say, “gimme Jesus, please.”
Dear God,
You have given us holy scripture in order that we might find direction, discipline, encouragement and wisdom from You.
We thank You for the gift of this history, wisdom and prophecy and the ways it can guide our lives into a relationship with you.
Help us to make time each day to spend in Your Word. We know this will nourish our spirits and our souls in ways that earthly bread cannot.
Thank You for how you change us over time as we learn and are inspired by the story of Your great love for us.
In Christ’s name we pray,
Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment