In John 6:35, Jesus said, “I am the bread of life.” With this analogy, He illustrates a physical
need to explain a spiritual need. The human
body requires food for nourishment and sustainment of life. Without it, we
wither away and die. The spiritual
inference here suggests that we are always feeding off of some kind of bread. However, there is only one bread that will
truly satisfy our hunger.
Every human being has an inward need and craving for love. We
were created to know true love. Not just
any love but God’s undefiled, authentic, Agape love. He is the source of that love. His love is so complete that it will give us
a sense of security, acceptance and value as precious beloved children of
God. If our need for love is not met, we
will go through life trying to get our need met through people, places and
things apart from God. We will go
seeking after the wrong bread and start to feed off that which never satisfies
our hunger for love.
Psalm 27 says, “A satisfied man craves the honeycomb, but to
a hungry man even the bitter thing seems sweet.” What does this mean in modern vernacular? Bad love is better than no love at all. It’s easy to judge those who stay in abusive
or dysfunctional relationships and the young woman who cruises bars giving her
body away freely. How about women, young and old, who dress provocatively and
cheapen themselves because they do not know their value and worth? The sad reality is that they are looking for
love and acceptance, but like the song says, they are “looking for love in all
the wrong place.” This cheap imitation of love is better than no love at all. They probably have never had their love cup
topped off, so they are getting it anyway they know how.
The bible mentions unfailing love 33 times in the New Testament
but nowhere is the source of that love found in anyone or anything other than
the person of Jesus Christ. However, we keep running to people, places and
things hoping they will fill our deepest need
for love, but we are left continually
unsatisfied. It is not wrong to desire to be loved, God created us for love,
but it is desperately wrong for us to think that we can get our deepest need
for love in anything other than the love of Christ.
Psalm 107:9 declares, "God satisfies the longing soul. He
fills the hungry soul with goodness." In other words, He will not take away our craving for love; instead He
satisfies it the right way. Oswald
Chambers wrote, "No love of the natural heart is safe unless the human
heart has been satisfied by God first."
When this truth resonates deeply into our hearts and soul, it
will change our lives. We no longer have to chase after the wrong bread that never satisfies because we will be
feeding off the best bread of all, the right bread….The bread of life, our
beloved Jesus! He is the only one that satisfies completely with His unfailing,
unending love. What bread have you been eating?
