The God Who Feeds My Soul

Bread is eaten daily. Some fruits are available only in season. Some drinks are made only at holidays. Not so with bread. And not so with Jesus. He should be brought to our table every day. We let him nourish our hearts, not just in certain months or on special events, but daily.

Bread can meet many needs. So can Jesus. He has a word for the lonely as well as for the popular. He has help for the physically ill and the emotionally ill. If your vision is clear, he can help you. If your vision is cloudy, he can help you. Jesus can meet each need.

Can you see why Jesus called himself the Bread of Life?

I can think of one other similarity. Consider how bread is made. Think about the process. Wheat grows in the field, then it is cut down, winnowed, and ground into flour. It passes through the fire of the oven and is then distributed around the world. Only by this process does bread become bread. Each step is essential.

Jesus grew up as a "small plant before the LORD" (Isa. 53:2). One of thousands in Israel. Indistinguishable from the person down the street or the child in the next chair. Had you seen him as a youngster, you wouldn't have thought he was the Son of God. He was just a boy. One of hundreds. Like a staff of wheat in the wheat field.

But like wheat, he was cut down. Like chaff he was pounded and beaten. "He was wounded for the wrong we did; he was crushed for the evil we did" (Isa. 53:5). And like bread he passed through the fire. On the cross he passed though the fire of God's anger, not because of his sin, but because of ours. "The LORD has put on him the punishment for all the evil we have done" (Isa. 53:6).

Jesus experienced each part of the process of making bread: the growing, the pounding, the firing. And just as each is necessary for bread, each was also necessary for Christ to become the bread of life. "The Christ must suffer these things before he enters his glory" (Luke 24:26).

The next part of the process, the distribution, Christ leaves with us. We are the distributors. We can't force people to eat the bread, but we can make sure they have it.

"I am the bread that gives life." John 6:35

From A Gentle Thunder, Copyright 1995 Max Lucado

He must become greater; I must become less.

That is what John the Baptist told his followers when they got upset about Jesus baptising. See, John's followers were a bit irked about this new guy named Jesus doing what John was doing. But John said to them "You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'" John then compared Jesus to a bridegroom, himself to the friend of the bridegroom (or best man), and the people to a bride. In John 3:29 he said, "The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete." Then in 3:30 he says, what I feel, is the most important part. He must become greater; I must become less. This statement applies to us all. In our lives Jesus should always come first.



*Just a small note here. We will be postponing our next study meeting until 4/21/06. So the new schedule will look like this:

4:4-8:59 Week 3 meet on 4/21/06
9:1-12:50 Week 4 meet on 4/28/06
13:1-16:33 Week 5 meet on 5/5/06
17:1-21:25 Week 6 meet on 5/12/06

Hucksters & Hypocrites

by Max Lucado


Some years ago I was in the Miami airport to pick up a friend. As I walked through the terminal, a convert of an Eastern cult got my attention. You know the kind I'm talking about: beads, sandals, frozen smile, backpack of books.

"Sir," she said. (I should have kept walking.)

"Sir, just a moment, please." Well, I had a moment. I was early and the plane was late, so what harm? (I should have kept walking.)

I stopped and she began her spiel. She said she was a teacher and her school was celebrating an anniversary. In honor of the event, they were giving away a book which explained their philosophy. She placed a copy in my hand. It was a thick hardback with a mystic cover. A guru-looking guy was sitting cross-legged with his hands folded. I thanked her for the book and began to walk away.

"Sir?" I stopped. I knew what was coming.

"Would you like to make a donation to our school?"

"No," I responded, "but thanks for the book."

I began to walk away. She followed me and tapped me on the shoulder.

"Sir, everyone so far has given a donation in appreciation for the gift."

"That's good," I replied, "but I don't think I will. But I appreciate the book." I turned and began to walk away. I hadn't even taken a step, however, when she spoke again. This time she was agitated.

"Sir," and she opened her purse so I could see her collection of dollars and coins. "If you were sincere in your gratitude you would give a donation in appreciation."

That was low. That was sneaky. Insulting. I'm not usually terse, but I couldn't resist. "That may be true," I responded, "but if you were sincere, you wouldn't give me a gift and then ask me to pay for it."

She reached for the book, but I tucked it under my arm and walked away. A small victory against the mammoth of hucksterism. Sadly, the hucksters win more than they lose. And, even more sadly, hucksters garb themselves in Christian costumes as much as those of Eastern cults.

You've seen them. The talk is smooth. The vocabulary eloquent. The appearance genuine. They are on your television. They are on your radio. They may even be in your pulpit. May I speak candidly?

The time has come to tolerate religious hucksters no longer. These seekers of "sanctimoney" have stained the reputation of Christianity. They have muddied the altars and shattered the stained glass. They manipulate the easily deceived. They are not governed by God; they are governed by greed. They are not led by the Spirit; they are propelled by pride. They are marshmallow phonies who excel in emotion and fail in doctrine. They strip-mine faith to get a dollar and rape the pew to get a payment. Our master unveiled their scams and so must we.

How? By recognizing them.

Two trademarks give them away. One, they emphasize their profit more than the Prophet. Note the emphasis of the message. What is the burden? Your salvation or your donation? Monitor what is said. Is money always needed yesterday? Are you promised health if you give and hell if you don't? If so, ignore him.

A second characteristic of ecclesiastical con men: they build more fences than they build faith. Medicine men tell you to stay out of the pharmacy. They don't want you trying other treatments. Neither do hucksters. They present themselves as pioneers that the mainline church couldn't stomach, but, in reality, they are lone wolves on the prowl.

Christ's passion on Monday is indignance. For that reason I make no apology about challenging you to call the cards on these guys. God has been calling a halt to babblers building towers for centuries. So should we.


Excerpt from And the Angels Were Silent.



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Our first bible study meeting

Friday night went pretty well. Since we really didn't have all that much to read the discussion was short but good. Basically, the first 18 verses of John are a prologue. John declairs the deity of Jesus and shows that He was there durring creation (1:1-5).

Next in verses 6-8 we are told about John the Baptist and shown how that John was sent by God to give testimony about Christ. In 9-10 we are told that Christ is the true or real Light and that He is the one who gives man the light of reason and concience. But in spite of this the world rejected Him. Verse 11 tells us that while Christ came to his own people they rejected him. Then in verse 12 John reveils that even thogh Christ was rejected God has made it so that if we receive and belive (both concepts of salvation) in Christ that we will become "sons of God".
Next, in verse 13, we are shown that the spiritual birth spoken of in verse 12 if not of man but is of God. This is akin to being saying one is "born again" or a "born again Christian". Verses 12 thru 13 really show that by received and believing in Christ we become a new person in Christ or are born again. In verse 14 we are now to the point where John declairs that the Word had been made flesh and that the glory of the Father was seen in the Son.

The rest of the prologue has to do with John the Baptist testifing about Jesus. In verse 15 he proclames that "He who comes after me as surpassed me because he was before me". Here he is stating that Jesus has always been or that he existed in eternity. Verse 16 shows that we share in that grace spoken of in verse 14 . In verse 17 we are told how that while the law of God was given through Moses, Jesus has come to fulfill the law through grace. Finally in verse 18 we are told that untill now no one has truly seen God and that now we can truely see Him through His son Jesus.



*Sources that I used to do this write up were: NIV Study Bible, Liberty Bible Commentary, and the commentary from Biblegateway.com.