Hungry for bread

We have been reading from the book of John with Tomás at bedtime recently and the section we've been in for a while is chapter 6.  It's a long section, so I'm not going to type it all out, but you can read it here.  So it starts out that Jesus feeds more than five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish.  The people like a free meal and full bellies so the next day they go looking for Jesus hoping for more.  He's on the other side of the lake because He walked on the water in the middle of the night and then hopped in the boat with His disciples.  Anyway, the people hop in their boats, find Jesus and He tells them that they are just looking for another free meal and that they should be working for food that leads to eternal life.  They want to know what work that is and he tells them that they need to believe in Him.  They, still wanting to get a free meal out of Jesus, basically tell him "We'll believe you if you give us some more food.  Moses gave our fathers food every day!"  So Jesus tells them that God gives the true bread from heaven for life and they are like "Yeah, give us some of that always!"  Jesus makes it even clearer for them.  He's the bread.  Feeding your soul is more important than feeding your belly.

Reading this has challenged me.  I like to feed my belly and have material stuff and enjoy things around me.  None of that is necessarily bad, but Jesus wants me to love Him more.  I need to be hungry for the true bread.  I need to put time with Him and time in His Word as priority above physical needs.  This is an especially appropriate time to be reminded of this.  We get busy enjoying the holidays and can forget to enjoy Him.  So before we stuff another tasty butter slathered roll in our mouths, let's remember to feed our souls with the true bread and spend time in the Word and in prayer.