THERE is something appealing and comforting about freshly baked, crusty bread. The makers of TV adverts realise this. A recent Hovis advertisement also appealed to our sense of nostalgia as a boy ran through the decades to deliver a loaf of bread in time for tea.
Every day in the UK an astonishing nine million loaves of bread are sold. In recent years, when diets have dominated much of people's time and imagination, bread has sometimes been seen as a food to avoid. But it continues to be a part of many people's staple diet.
Jesus said: ‘I am the bread of life' (John 6:35 Good News Bible), and his listeners were confused.
They asked Jesus questions, making requests for bread to eat. Maybe their minds were on their stomachs.
Jesus had recently fed 5,000 of them with only five loaves and two fish. Rather than wanting signs and explanations, the people really wanted to be fed again - to have their stomachs filled.
But Jesus had his mind on something much more important.
He wanted to turn their desire for bread into a desire for a different kind of food - spiritual food.
Jesus encouraged them to have faith and to believe that, just as they needed food to live on earth, they also needed him so that they could live a life with purpose and one which lasts for eternity.
What sort of things are you hungry for in your life? Are you like some of the crowds who listened to Jesus but who wanted their physical needs met? Do you long for good food, a comfortable home and a healthy bank balance?
You may have tried to satisfy this type of hunger by trying to accumulate wealth. Many people have - and many of them have found that it has not brought them the satisfaction they thought.
But Jesus says to us today, just as he said to people centuries ago, that he is the bread of life. He can satisfy that hunger, that feeling of wanting more in our lives, if we are willing to follow him.
War Cry 9 January 2010 - TSA UK
Every day in the UK an astonishing nine million loaves of bread are sold. In recent years, when diets have dominated much of people's time and imagination, bread has sometimes been seen as a food to avoid. But it continues to be a part of many people's staple diet.
Jesus said: ‘I am the bread of life' (John 6:35 Good News Bible), and his listeners were confused.
They asked Jesus questions, making requests for bread to eat. Maybe their minds were on their stomachs.
Jesus had recently fed 5,000 of them with only five loaves and two fish. Rather than wanting signs and explanations, the people really wanted to be fed again - to have their stomachs filled.
But Jesus had his mind on something much more important.
He wanted to turn their desire for bread into a desire for a different kind of food - spiritual food.
Jesus encouraged them to have faith and to believe that, just as they needed food to live on earth, they also needed him so that they could live a life with purpose and one which lasts for eternity.
What sort of things are you hungry for in your life? Are you like some of the crowds who listened to Jesus but who wanted their physical needs met? Do you long for good food, a comfortable home and a healthy bank balance?
You may have tried to satisfy this type of hunger by trying to accumulate wealth. Many people have - and many of them have found that it has not brought them the satisfaction they thought.
But Jesus says to us today, just as he said to people centuries ago, that he is the bread of life. He can satisfy that hunger, that feeling of wanting more in our lives, if we are willing to follow him.
War Cry 9 January 2010 - TSA UK
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