I am sitting out on the deck of Luke's grandparents ranch this morning in awe of the beauty that is before me.
In times of rest and relaxation, it is easy to be grateful and humbled by the grace in my life. I wish I could say the same for when times are hard and struggle is the only friend I have but I can't. I desire to be consistent in my thankfulness and in my awareness of the goodness of God. I want my intentions and my actions to reflect the constant knowledge that I have been given life. A life that should need nothing and want nothing because of the promise given to me.
This morning I read a great entry in a devotional book that I want to share. It speaks directly to how I have been feeling lately and reminds me of where and from whom all good things flow.
"I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." John 6:35
IN WORD: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," Jesus had said (Matthew 5:6). Now He tells us how. We will be filled with Him. He is the righteousness. He is the object of everything for which we truly hunger and thirst. He is the Manna the Father sent, the Bread that satisfies our souls.
Yet even today many believers seem hungry and thirsty. Jesus often seems absent from their lives.
Perhaps we hunger for the wrong kind of bread. Jesus says, "He who comes to me will never go hungry." Many of us appeal to Jesus for the goods of this world, the fulfillment of our own agendas, or the circumstances we would like to have. To us, Jesus is a means to another end - our goals. If this is our story, Jesus is never satisfying.
Perhaps we hunger for the right kind of bread but don't meet Jesus' conditions for receiving it. Jesus says, "He who comes, ...he who believes." Both of these conditions imply that we meet Him on His terms, not ours. We try to come with part of ourselves, but not all. We believe in some of His teaching, but not all. We want the benefits of the Son of God without abandoning ourselves to Him. If this is our story, Jesus is never satisfying to us, either.
IN DEED: But to those who hunger and thirst for righteousness and who come to Him without reservation, thirsting in Him as the source of all righteousness and strength, He satisfies. Those whose whole life is reoriented around Him and who desire nothing else will never want for anything. He is not our means to get bread; He is the bread.
When we follow Him by faith with nothing else to rely on, He provides. And we are filled.
"The heart of a man is restless until it finds its rest in Thee." - St. Augustine
Credited: At His Feet, April 2nd Devotional
