Every morning people all over the world wake up looking for something they think will satisfy them. It is not necessarily a conscious thought. They start their day the regular way, getting ready to do whatever their day demands. They are not thinking, “Maybe today will be the day I find something that satisfies me.” They do not sit in the Chick-fil-A drive-thru line intentionally processing the possibility that this might be the day that changes their lives. They get dressed, eat breakfast, say goodbye to their families and head off to the office, the classroom, the shop or wherever their day takes them thinking about what their day will hold. Will it be busy? Will their 10 o’clock appointment show? Will they close the deal? Will James have his homework done this time?
Beneath the surface of their daily activities people live every day with a longing. Sometimes it’s subtle. Sometimes it’s much more pronounced. But it always leaves them looking for something that will fill up a constant, nagging emptiness inside.
Speaking to the heart
The crowd Jesus spoke to in John 6 was no different. It had been a busy 24 hours. The day before they had heard Him teach and seen Him feed more than 5,000 people with a picnic lunch. That morning stories were beginning to circulate about how He had walked on the water and rescued His disciples from last night’s storm. They came to Jesus again that morning because they were looking for something. They wanted Him to meet a “felt need” in their lives, give them a new religious experience or “wow” them in a way nothing in their lives ever could.
Jesus did none of those things, not on that day. There were no miraculous demonstrations, no breakfasts, no vending machine religious formulas. On that day He cut through all of the stuff they thought would satisfy them and spoke directly to their real need. Listen to what He said.
Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
Jesus said, “If you are hungry, if you are thirsty, come to Me. I will satisfy you.” In the phrase “I am the Bread of Life,” Jesus answers the great question of the human heart.
He satisfies the deepest longing of my heart.
He made it personal. It is not about the things He gives us. It is not about the religious expressions of our faith. It is not even about the miraculous demonstrations of His power. It is about Him.
In a book title the late well-known Southern Baptist pastor and leader Adrian Rogers said, “Believe In Miracles, But Trust In Jesus.” It was no coincidence that Jesus made this statement less than 24 hours after He fed the multitude. He wanted them to see past the miracle of physical bread and know He is the Bread of Life.
The crowd brought up the manna, the bread from heaven the Israelites ate in the wilderness. Like so many other examples from the Old Testament that bread was a picture, a foreshadowing of Jesus Himself, the “true Bread out of heaven.”
Everything we need
When we come to God through faith in the crucified and resurrected Christ we find Him to be everything we need. Every day we find something new and beautiful about Him to love. Once we taste and see the Lord is good we know He satisfies our deepest hunger. Our souls will never be truly and deeply satisfied until He is enough.
He always satisfies the deepest longing of my heart.
He made it permanent. He said, “I am.” He didn’t say, “I was,” or “I will be.” He said, “I am the Bread of Life.” As long as the Israelites needed the manna it was there every morning. The writer
of Lamentations described the goodness of the Lord like this, “The Lord’s lovingkindness indeed never ceases, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22–23).
When I wake up in the morning I am hungry for physical food. I look forward to new experiences. I may be apprehensive about the challenges of the day. I may have to deal with some difficult situations and do battle against temptations that invariably come but I always am satisfied with Jesus. He is the Bread of Life.
Bread of Life
He is the only one who can satisfy the deepest longing of my heart.
Jesus called Himself the Bread of Life. He made it clear that anyone who “comes to” Him and “believes in” Him will never hunger and never thirst. The invitation is open to anyone. In verse 40 of this chapter He said so.
“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life” (John 6:40).
Even though the invitation to eternal life and the opportunity to have life’s deepest longing satisfied is open to everyone, not everyone will experience it. Believing in Him is the dividing line. He said this in John 14, “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
We all are sinners by nature and by choice. We are separated from God by our sin and it is exactly that sin and that separation that makes us so deeply hungry at the core of who we are. What separates us from God also places us under the sentence of His judgment which is death. What we deserve for our sin is death and hell and to live with that hunger and longing for all of eternity.
But the good news of the gospel is that God loves us too much to leave us that way, so He sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to be our substitute and die in our place. That is His grace. Only when we respond in faith by placing our trust in Christ and Christ alone can we have eternal life. Only then can we know peace with God. Only then is the deepest longing and the real hunger of our heart satisfied.
Brock served churches in Mississippi and Arkansas before becoming pastor of Highland Baptist Church, Florence, in 2001. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi College, a master of divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and a doctor of ministry from Reformed Theological Seminary. He has served in various capacities in both the Mississippi and Arkansas Baptist conventions and been active in local associations. He and his wife of 26 years, Charman, have two children.
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