The Bread of Life
Good Morning Friends,
Well, through One by One Leadership Foundation we wired enough money down to our partners in Haiti to build a Helping Hands Bakery and the first bread baked there will be for a communion celebration. I think Jesus might like the idea. You see Jesus was born in a place called Bethlehem which translates as House of Bread. And he performed miracles breaking and multiplying bread and attended a feast of the unleavened bread and knew the power of first fruits. But what is so radical is that he called himself The Bread of Life.
Scripture: Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life.”
John 6:35 (NIV)
I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
John 6:48-58 (NRSV)
Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'”
Matthew 4:4 (NIV)
Message: Where ever I have travelled I have tried the bread and it is a little different in texture and flavor everywhere. But warm homemade bread with a pat of fresh butter wherever you call home has got to be one of the most satisfying of foods. Still God’s provision is more than bread. And for materialists that is tough to swallow. That is one reason that they walked out on Jesus when he said he was the bread of life. Legalists did not like it either for they wanted the law, not the law giver. And sensationalists did not like it for they wanted miracles with all the glitz imaginable. Friends, how we draw sustenance makes a difference. If Jesus is our daily bread, the sky is a witness.
Pray we sow seeds for a harvest of finest wheat in words of truth spoken in love. Pray our labor in grinding out the flour not to be in vain. Pray God would bake this daily bread for the nourishment of us all. Pray as we hunger for love, that we find satisfaction in God. Pray we would help those so hungry that they can only see God in bread. Pray there is enough work and bread and drink for all. Pray we do not take from the labor of others the bread God provides. Pray we are not tempted by the wrong kind of bread. Pray we are wise and fugal. Pray we invest in others’ lives as God has invested in us.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 