How to Satisfy Your Real Hunger

I was chatting with a lady while having my hair done one day, and she said, "I bought a Bible because I was hungry." Many people never tune into this spiritual hunger. Physical food satisfies physical hunger, but it can never satisfy our spiritual hunger. 

Solomon stated that God "set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). 

Jesus wanted His listeners to be aware of this "eternity" in their hearts. He said, "My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink" (John 6:55). Jesus spoke these words to the crowd that came searching for Him the day after He fed the 5000 their fill of fish and barley bread. He knew why they showed up. They wanted more bread.

Jesus also knew that they were seeking to satisfy the lesser of their two hungers: "You are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life" (John 6:27). Centuries earlier the prophet Isaiah made the same point: "Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?" (Isaiah 55:2).

The crowd enjoyed Jesus' gifts, but He had so much more to give them. So He tells them to eat His flesh, to drink His blood. These words are full of mystery to us, but in pagan religions, the worshipper ate some of the animal that was sacrificed. They believed that their god entered into this meat, and so when they ate it they were literally god-filled. 

They could understand His language-and so can we. It is Jesus' invitation to feed on Him by faith, to absorb His Word and let it be expressed through our lives. 

Thank You, Jesus, for inviting us to experience the inexpressible joy of feeding on You in our hearts by faith. 

"Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me" (Jn. 6:57).