John 6:22-40 portrays the underlying outcome of Jesus' feeding of the thousands the previous day. The people’s real longing is for another extraordinary and supernatural scene and all the given food.
In this entry, Christ starts to clarify the genuine significance behind His wonder and His service. This incorporates the first of seven ''I AM'' utterances in the Gospel of John, where Jesus proclaims His divinity.
How Is Jesus the Bread of Life?
Jesus explains that physical things, for example, bread, are intended to be images of spiritual truth.
Jesus rebuked the individuals who followed Him just for the physical and worldly advantages, not on the grounds that they were hungry for spiritual things. Numerous individuals today use religion to acquire notoriety or solace.
Be that as it may, those are egotistical thought processes. Genuine believers follow Jesus basically in light of the fact that they realize His direction is the best way to live.
Numerous true searchers of God are confounded about what He wants them to do. The religions of the world are humankind's endeavor to respond to this inquiry.
Be that as it may, Jesus' answer is brief and straightforward: we should have faith in Him whom God has sent.
Fulfilling God does not come from the work we do, yet from whom we accept it. The initial step is accepting that Jesus is who He professes to be.
All spiritual growth is based on this confirmation. We eat bread to fulfill actual physical hunger and to support real life.
We can fulfill our spiritual hunger and support spiritual life by connecting with Jesus Christ. It comes as no surprise that He called Himself the Bread of Life.
In any case, bread should be eaten to give life, and Christ should be welcomed into our day-by-day walk to give spiritual life.
Jesus did not work autonomously of God the Father, yet in association with Him. This gives us considerably more affirmation of being invited into His presence and being secured by Him. Jesus' motivation was to do the desire of the Father. We ought to have that equivalent reason.
It seems that at some point in our lives, we become dependent on the pastor or a preacher to feed us that we have forgotten the true source of our provision. Why is that, especially for mature Christians? And I am not talking about those of physical age, yet to those of spiritual age.
The Apostle Paul calls new Christians “infants in Christ.” They are fed the milk of the Word, that which is easy to digest and understand (1 Corinthians 3:2).
Mature Christians should be obtaining their spiritual nourishment from the meat of the Word of God. That is the portions that are more in-depth, which go deeper in understanding the Word of God.
Mature believers should be helping to nurture new Christians, as well as each other. And as new Christians begin to grow in their spiritual maturity, they should learn to feed on the meat of the Word.
This means getting into a more in-depth study of God’s Word. Granted, we all need something to help wash down what we are feeding on, so we should, on occasion, take in a little of the milk of God’s Word.
Sometimes new Christians are left to learn on their own. They may not know how to apply that learned knowledge from a Bible study or from Sunday school.
They have not truly learned to obtain the Word on their own, or maybe it is that they only get the Word on Sunday.
What Is the Significance of Spiritual Growth?
As infants, parents must feed their young children until the children learn to feed themselves. In doing so, the children learn what is good for them. When the children (new Christians) are ready for school, they normally go home with homework.
That same concept applies to their spiritual growth. New Christians need to learn to take responsibility to study the Word and to do so, mature Christians need to guide them.
If the only spiritual food is taken in on the Sunday morning service, by the next week that person is starving spiritually.
Some may not be physically able to attend multiple services during the week, but that should not prevent people from reading the Word and from studying the Word. Turn off the distractions. It may be a good idea to take the Word to those who can’t get out.
Mature Christians need to learn that there is more to do than just “winning souls.” Do not think that just because we led someone to Christ that the job is done, especially if that new Christian stays within our local church body.
And for those new Christians that may not be in our local church body, we need to point them in the right direction.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world” (John 6:51).
“This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever” (John 6:58).
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
What Does Spiritual Hunger Mean?
Jesus emphasized that He is exactly what we need to sustain our spiritual growth. But how could Jesus give us His body as bread to eat? To eat living bread means we are joined with Christ.
We are joined with Christ in two ways. First, by having faith in his death and resurrection, and second, by dedicating ourselves to living as He requires, relying upon His teachings for direction, and confiding in the Holy Spirit for power.
We should listen to the sermon given every Sunday, but we should not live our lives solely on that weekly Scripture. We need to learn to feed ourselves in between worship services.
We eat breakfast, but before lunchtime, we may get hungry again. Do we just wait, or do we go get ourselves a snack?
If the only spiritual meals that we take in are at Sunday morning service, Sunday evening service, and possibly a Wednesday evening service, the rest of the week we are doing without spiritual food unless we have learned how to feed ourselves with the Bread of Life.
Fasting from spiritual food is not the same as fasting from physical food. Going without spiritual food makes one weak.
We need to learn to belly up to the spiritual table when the spiritual meal is prepared for us but also, we need to learn to snack on the spiritual goodies until it is time for that next full spiritual meal.
For further reading:
Why Is Jesus Called the 'Bread of Life'?
What Is Manna and its Significance in Scripture?
What Does it Mean to Hunger for God?
Why Is Spiritual Maturity Important?
What Does it Mean ‘When I Was a Child, I Spoke Like a Child’?
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