What’s
the most hungry that you’ve ever been? For me, it was the Boy Scouts Polar Bear
overnight that I attended as a teen. I had to do all of my own cooking, and
basically I starved. When I got home Saturday night, my Mom fixed seven slices
of her mouthwatering French toast which I devoured in front of the TV until I
fell asleep.
When
teaching, Jesus would often use earthly objects and events that people could
easily visualize in order to drive home a spiritual lesson. Because of this, he
spoke to Nicodemus about being “born again”.
In
Capernaum, he taught in the synagogue about the “Bread of Life”. Bread from God
was a familiar image to the Jews. After all, God had provided manna for the
nation of Israel as they roamed the wilderness for forty years.
The
crowd that Jesus was teaching had been a part of the five thousand he had
miraculously fed. They followed him, not because they knew who he was, but
because they were hungry. Jesus on the other hand, was trying to steer their
attention from the temporal to the eternal.
When
I got home from the Polar Bear overnight, all I could think about was food and
sleep. HALT is an acronym that stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. These
are emotions that can affect you any day of the week. You don’t have to go on a
winter camping trip to experience them. Life is the trip.
How
do you deal with HALT distractions in your life? How does the Bread of Life
regain your nourishment; refocus your sense of purpose; revitalize your
spiritual strength? Answer these questions and you will experience the abundant
life that Christ promises.
27 Jesus told them, “Don’t be so concerned about perishable
things like food. Spend your energy seeking the eternal life that the Son of Man
can give you… John 6 NLT
33 “The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven
and gives life to the world… 35 I
am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever
believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6 NLT
When
I got home from the Polar Bear overnight, all I could think about was food and
sleep. HALT is an acronym that stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired. These
are emotions that can affect you any day of the week. You don’t have to go on a
winter camping trip to experience them. Life is the trip.
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