Tuesday, September 3, 2019

The Names of God - Bread of God


Bread of God

John 6:33 (ESV)
For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

There are no wasted words in scripture. In The Names of God: Book I, we looked at Bread of Life – Jesus. However, Jesus referred to Himself as both the Bread of God and the Bread of Life. Perhaps there is a reason.

Before you are born again the Holy Spirit is at work to woo you, to draw you to Jesus. He places in front of you the Bread of God – that which is given by grace to reveal to you His goodness and to give you a desire for more. This is similar to the manna God gave Israel in the wilderness. He was developing a relationship with a people that had forgotten Him. Four hundred years in Egypt had cause their knowledge and love for the Creator to grow cold, indifferent.

After working their release from Pharaoh, God showed mercy in bringing them back to Himself by feeding them manna (Bread of God – Jesus), giving the water from a rock (The Rock – Jesus), providing shade from the intense heat (Cloud by Day), and warmth in the cool evenings (Fire by Night). All of this was done because God wanted to introduce Himself as the God of more than enough. He wanted to show Israel that He loved them and had a plan for them.

In like fashion, God comes to us who also are in a wilderness, separated from our Creator. Before we ever knew He existed the Holy Spirit was at work, drawing us toward Jesus. People were placed in our path to speak the Truth to us. Others demonstrated the love of God in order to show us how God intended for us to live. This is all the Bread of God, sent from Heaven to give us life.

Once you become a Christian you then begin the process of becoming like Christ. You develop a hunger for more than just manna (Bread of God). You begin to feast on the Bread of Life! You desire to know Him, to speak with Him, to walk with Him. In doing so, you become the Bread of God to others. When people see the transformation in your life it will begin to draw them to Jesus. And the cycle continues.

The primary difference is this: unlike Israel did with manna, we will never grow weary of a diet filled with the Bread of Life!

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