Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him God the Father has set His seal.
--John 6:26-27
In the wake of an astonishing miracle (the feeding of the 5,000) the crowds proved again the inability of worldly people to comprehend spiritual things. Their desire for earthly food alone propelled them to follow Jesus to Capernaum. Not only was their focus “What's in it for me?” but they didn't even see that the gain they were pursuing was completely unsatisfying and temporary. It must have been so frustrating for Jesus to see these people who followed Him around and heard His teachings still deny their need for salvation. How could a loaf of bread seem more important to them than eternal life?
People today live in much the same way. You probably don't see many people choosing a bag of Wonder Bread over an eternity in heaven. But human desires (and not just those of the unsaved) tend towards what we can feel, and taste, and touch.
Some people just put off the need for spiritual reconciliation because they are enjoying the world too much. These people have not necessarily even heard the whole gospel, and they don't want to. They don't want to hear anything that will make them change, because the fleeting happiness they are pursuing—that joy that's always just around the corner—depends on their doing things that, in their heart, they know are wrong.
Even more tragic are those people who know the Gospel and choose something else anyway. These are the people that we as Christians have labored in prayer over, cried about, and pleaded with to repent of their sins and trust in Jesus as their Savior, Lord, and true Joy. Our attempts fall on deaf ears and stubborn hearts, because there is something else in their life that they just can't give up. There is something that can be touched, and felt, and tasted that is so tantalizing and addictive that the urgency of the Gospel message seems irrelevant.
But unbelievers are not the only ones who partake in the folly of the crowds. Look inside your own heart, and I believe that you will find, as I did, that we who are saved can be guilty of the same atrocity. We want what we can feel. I know that Jesus is in me, shining as a light to the world. I know that heaven is real, and it's coming, and it's infinitely better than the best thing that's ever happened to me. I know that the Bible is made of the very words of God, and is an incredibly precious gift that I have the privilege of taking with me in my heart wherever I go. But my heart looks at the blessings of the world and wants them.
Why is it that we want earthly blessings so badly? Why is it that we'll devote hours of actions, thoughts, and words each week to the purpose of winning peoples' good opinions? Why is it that we'll worry and wonder and plan endlessly for our future in pursuit of great personal success, instead of trusting the only One who ever had any control over what's to come? Why is it so hard to be content with loving Jesus wholeheartedly by yourself, and so easy to feel like you need someone else to love and be loved by? Why is it that just about every blessing in our lives is only ever a hair's breadth away from becoming an idol—a necessary, ultimate goal of life? The reason why is that we are like the crowds who followed Jesus with their feet but not their hearts. We are captivated by the taste, the smell, the feel of earthly bread in our hands, in our mouths, in our stomachs. We want it, we pursue it, we take it, we eat it. Then, after a few hours of feeling warm and full, we find that once again we are hungry. The cycle repeats. And the cycle will repeat, in my heart and in yours, if God doesn't put a stop to it. Thanks be to God that there is a way to stop wanting and chasing this earthly bread—and to finally find true joy and satisfaction.
Isaiah 55:1-3
Come, everyone who thirsts,
come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live;
and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
my steadfast, sure love for David.
I am sick of spending my money, spending my time, spending my labor on that which does not, cannot, and will not satisfy. I am ready (at least in my heart) to throw my all into pursuing Jesus, the bread of life. And right here, in Isaiah 55, is the way for me to do just that.
“Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good.”
“Incline your ear.”
“Come to me.”
“Hear, that your soul may live.”
I'm thirsty. I want my life to be more joyful, and more fulfilled. Jesus, my Savior, is the only fountain that can quench my thirst. So I'll come to Him. I'll enter His presence. And it won't just be for the few minutes that constitute a “quiet time.” Instead, I'll linger with Him. I'll listen diligently—not giving up when His words seem counter-intuitive to my immediate happiness. And as I hear, as I listen, as I come, I will worship Him—because He is the bread of life.
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst.”
