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Bread

              Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:35)

          I have to admit that this is one of the verses in Scripture that unsettles me a little. It’s not a deal-breaker with God because my failure to be 100% with what the Bible says is not required any more than my being 100% with any person. It’s entirely possible that I’m the one missing the puzzle piece. A lot of people would say that this passage is easy. Jesus was referring to Himself as the bread of life, so the bread in question is spiritual or figurative. It doesn’t mean that if those who come to Him choose to fast for forty days that their stomachs won’t growl and they won’t lose weight. It also doesn’t mean that groceries will appear in the cupboard.

          I get that, and no doubt, that’s the right interpretation but there’s still a part of me that wants Jesus to have clarified further, probably because I’m too aware of the likelihood of someone taking it out of context. But in the spiritual context, it follows what was said. So what do we do about the Bread of Life? I know some who would quickly protest that they’re gluten-free, or question whether it has egg, milk, butter, or any other animal-based ingredients, or they’d object to the fact that it’s carbs. Other people I know can’t tell when they’re hungry or have the habit of procrastinating about eating. Then there are those of us who are all too willing to eat, but snacks, treats, and junk food are the only choices we’ll make, or the choices we make too often.

          Christ doesn’t take away our hunger. He feeds it. And if we ignore He offers, He may let us either stuff ourselves with junk until we’re sick of it or let us go hungry until we, like the prodigal son, decide to go home and eat what’s offered there. What’s your bad spiritual dietary habit? Talk to God about it.

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