The Bread is Good

I love bread. Bread taste good. It doesn’t matter if it’s garlic bread or a pumpernickel loaf. There is just something good about bread. If I were hungry and someone offered me bread I would take it and eat it without question. In fact I would enjoy it. I would not question the motivation behind the gift because my hunger is being satisfied. In fact, I would probably thank them for their benevolence. If I discovered, somehow, that the person who gave me the bread was an adulterer or a pimp, or a drug dealer, or criminal it would not change my hunger nor would it change the nutritional value of the bread that was offered to and eaten by me. Even if I discovered, that the person who offered me the bread was only giving it to me to manipulate me or to gain favor with me. It still would not change the taste, value or content of the bread that I received and was nourished by.

I have wanted to write on this subject for some time now. But if you have been following the blog, you know that I have been drawn to the subject of forgiveness; which is truly important and fundamental to a life of peace. But today, I felt like writing something a little different. Actually, it wasn't me. Most of my writing isn't premeditated. I have moments of spontaneous inspiration or revelation and I’m like,

“Oh, wow, that’s good. Thank you, God for explaining that to me. Let me write it down.”

Case in point, the bread is good. I wasn’t particularly concentrated on a specific aspect of my faith. I was just reading “Both/And:Ministering In Between Life's Extremes” by Benny Perez and “The Lady’s Rage” by yours truly, and I began to think about the message. The word. The gospel. And I considered a few people that I know who struggle to believe the message, the word and the gospel. And as I was considering them and myself, God painted a picture in my mind’s eye that made sense to me.

“I am the bread of life.” John 6:48

Jesus says of himself, that He is the bread of life. The bread is good. If someone presents bread to us, whose hands are unclean or whose heart is impure, it doesn’t change the quality of the bread. I know, you might say it does but you only say that from the perspective of not being hungry. Do you think a person who is starving cares where his food comes from? Or whose hands prepared it? Or why it’s being given? A starved person isn’t in a position to make these judgments because they are hungry. And the only thing that satisfies hunger is food. Not theology. Not religion. Not education. Not even money.

When you are hungry do you reach in your refrigerator for gold, money or diamonds? Do you go to your library of books and search for something to eat? No, you reach for food! The same is true of the gospel. The gospel is very simple. Hungry? Eat. Condemned? Eat. Depressed? Eat. Food is for the hungry. Jesus is the bread of life. He is the bread that we ALL need to live. Much like a starving person, there is a level of humility every believer comes to with the realization that they are hungry. Not for what does not satisfy but for Who does. Our culture is starved for real food;satiated by candy bars and chips.We make gods of mere men and idols of material; and complain that they are flawed, imperfect.

“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

The good news isn’t corrupt. It is not spoiled even by bad men. The bread is good. God is good. Leave the delegation of right and wrong to God. And if you are hungry, eat. Eat your fill of bread because there is more than enough of God to go around. As a person, who believes and has received the good news, I am obligated by passion to share what has been given to me. I have never been more satisfied or fulfilled by anything or anyone than I am in communion with God. Life's challenges. People's attitudes. The world's view. The cultures of men and women don't change the mere fact...that when I was hungry...God fed me. And the bread is good.