Mmm!  Keeps Us Coming Back for More! — Week 4
By Penelope Clevenger, Pastor's Wife, Family Fellowship Church of God, St. Charles, Mo.

There is nothing better than a freshly baked, warm apple cake straight out of the oven and drizzled with a sugar glaze…or a hot batch of homemade Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with a maple glaze.  Mmm!  You can’t eat just one bite, you want more.  These are surely people-pleasers.  It doesn’t matter the occasion, everybody seems to enjoy these goodies.  There has always been a calming, healing for me when I get my hands on something really and truly good to eat.  I love to eat!

This is the way we should be about the Word of God—running to get more.  It is also freshly prepared for us and every time that we sit down to eat from its manna, we are sustained and filled with so much more than just empty calories!  It also was designed to bring calming, healing and restoration that we so diligently seek.  Most Christians know this already and know just where to go when they need any of these.  Unfortunately, the world doesn’t know where to go when they have a need.  They wait until desperate times come into their lives and then they are running to and fro seeking their miracle.  Many times they do not find the help they need.  Some fall into the traps set by the world offering deliverance. Others somehow, by some divination, find their way to the church or to the person who can truly share with them the peace and understanding of a Holy God and Creator.

In John 6:22-40, the multitudes sought Jesus for they had seen the earlier miracles and they wanted to know more of Him.  They followed Him into Capernaum, and when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they wanted to know when He had come there.  In verse 26 Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.

According to the first part of this verse, it appears that they may have been hungry before and were filled when eating the bread shared with them.  Possibly they didn’t have the means to purchase food of their own.  They then asked what they should do that they might be able to work the works of God?  Jesus tells them to simply believe.  The inquiry continues and in verses 32 and 33 Jesus says to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  They then cried out for the Lord to give them the bread always.

And my favorite of this entire passage which is more filling than the goodies mentioned earlier is found in verses 35-40.  And Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life.  He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  But I said to you that you have seen Me and yet do not believe.  All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.  For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Embrace this.  Chew on it.  Drink from His waters.  Eat from His manna.  Be filled and sustained and know that He is your God and in control of all things.  That which He has created, He can and will protect and nurture.  He loves and He did die for us all.  Just as He has done these things, He will surely come again to rapture His children.  And should we leave by the way of the grave, we will be escorted directly to the Father where we will abide in Him for eternity.  Hallelujah!  What an exciting and fulfilling knowledge this is!

Site by WinWorld