I was vacuuming yesterday when the phrase "Give us this day our daily bread" came to mind, followed with Jesus' words "I am the bread of life". Somehow in that moment, it clicked. When I ask Him to fill my desires, He fills them with Himself. In the same way I need food every day, I need Him to satisfy me every day. Old bread is just not the same as fresh bread. Relying on yesterday's Word to be enough to sustain me for today is not going to cut it. I need a new Word today. Right here. Right now.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. Ever since I was a child, Revelation 3:20 has convinced me that Jesus Christ is real and wants me to know Him:
"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me."
He is standing there knocking. But we have to listen in order to hear Him. And when we hear Him, we must open the door. How often to you leave your friend standing outside the door of your house when they come to visit? Of course not! That's just plain rude. So you let them in. Maybe offer them tea and toast. You share, you talk, you laugh. After all, you are friends! This is what Jesus wants. He wants to share life with us. He provides the bread, but ours is the choice to open the door.
"Give us this day, our daily bread" - Matt. 6:11
"Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." - John 6:32-35
"O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him." - Psalm 34:8
Are you hungry, yet? I hope so! Jesus offers us the bread of Himself. Now what? How do we eat Him?
"And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." - Luke 4:1-4
"And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live." - Deuteronomy 8:3
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1
" And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." - John 1:14
We eat Him by eating His Words. Every day He offers us His Word to read, memorize, and meditate on. The question is are we eating it? If you don't read His Word every day, let me challenge you to do so! Read it often, read it all, read it over and over again!
I'm looking at the end of another year which means finishing one Bible reading plan and starting a new one. Of all the things I've done this year, or any year, taking the time to read the Word each day is something I do not regret.
Listen. Do you hear it? He is knocking.
