Bread of Life

Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.”
        Sometimes we Christians look more like goats than sheep, at least as far as our eating habits are concerned—especially regarding spiritual food. It seems like we are willing to feed on anything except every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
        As Americans we are addicted to spiritual junk food. We gladly feed on news, movies, TV, sports and entertainment—drugs and alcohol are certainly not the only escapes we use. In fact, nearly any distraction will do—feeding on our relationship with Jesus is often the last thing we think of.
         In The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, a book from C. S. Lewis’ series The Chronicles of Narnia, the young boy Edmond is fed a “magic junk food” called “Turkish Delight” by the White Witch. It tastes wonderful, and even makes his fingers sticky, but it never, ever satisfies his hunger.
        That is the nature of spiritual junk food—it seems to feed a need in the moment, but it never satisfies—it always leaves your stomach empty and wanting more. And even worse, it gives you no strength for the journey and no energy for the fight.
God allowed the Israelites to hunger so that he could feed them bread from heaven. God is still in the business of making His people hungry. May we, in our hunger, find our nourishment in Jesus, the Bread of Life! We all have a God-shaped hole inside us that only Jesus can fill.
-Pastor Dino Griffin