October 6 – A Deep Reality

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (John 6:51 NET)

As Christians we are used to taking the Lord’s Supper, or Communion, and lifting our small piece of bread to heaven to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross as He gave His body for us.  The cup is a symbol of His shed blood as well.  Though Jesus did command His disciples to eat and drink these elements in remembrance of Him, it was not meant to be a simple ritual, but something that revealed a very deep reality.

Bread to the Israeli culture, as well as many others around the world, was the staple of life.  Even the poorest of the poor ate bread to sustain them.  Jesus wants us to know that He is our staple, our sustenance.  No one can survive spiritually speaking without Him.  Just as we purposefully ingest bread and our bodies break it down into energy that spreads through our whole system, Jesus wants us to take Him in and allow Him to feed every aspect of our being.  

We are what we eat, and spiritually speaking that still remains the case.  We are the spiritual food that we take in.  Either eat from the bread of heaven, or eat the sustenance of this world, which is basically rotten decaying food: cynicism, greed, selfish ambition, sexual immorality, religiosity, and the list could go on…

If we take in Jesus’ words, Jesus’ example and Jesus’ mindset, we will be filling ourselves with light and everything that brings new life that will continue forever.  Christians who think that receiving Jesus’ in their lives is equal to installing a new app on their phone, are not just mission the point, but missing out on eternal life. These words mean that we are to take Jesus as a person into ourselves and allow the sacrifice that He made on the cross to transform us – His Spirit will infill us, and cause us to be born of Him.  As the One who laid down His flesh lives in us, we will have no fear to lay down our lives for Him.