This week’s suggested reading: John 6
Tip: Aim to read the suggested chapter once per day, with a goal of reading the chapter at least 5 times this week. As you read, keep a running list of anything the passage teaches you about Jesus – i.e. his commands, his example, his words, his convictions.
A second tip: Before you start reading the chapter each day, talk to God.
Praise him for his goodness and faithfulness. Tell him the concerns on your heart. And ask him to speak to you as you read his Word.
This week’s question to ponder: What physical solution am I seeking that might actually need a spiritual solution?
This week we talk a lot about bread. I love bread.
We as humans often look for physical solutions to spiritual problems.
Hopefully by now you’ve seen that Jesus often asked questions for the listener’s sake, not because he had a need for information. He did this again in this week’s text when he asks, “‘Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?’ He said this to test him (Philip), for he himself knew what he would do.” (John 6:5-6) We then read of Jesus miraculously feeding 5000+ people from five loaves and two fish.
The thing that got my attention in this chapter is how often the people who interacted with Jesus wanted a physical answer to their spiritual problem. In trying to answer the question Jesus asked, Philip looked to the physical, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” (John 6:7) And then further in the text, when speaking to crowds, they too looked to the physical for answers.
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
The people wanted physical bread to solve their physical hunger. But Jesus came to offer spiritual food to give spiritual life. They missed the point. And so often we do the same. Today, we can just as easily fall into a rut of asking God (over and over and over) for a physical solution when in actuality we’re dealing with a spiritual problem.
Jesus is stronger than any storm we may face.
As I write this point, it sounds so cliche, “Jesus is stronger than any storm we may face.” Like it would be a good quote on a Christian coffee mug with a picture of a tree on it in a storm. But cliche comments about Jesus annoy me. Saying “Jesus is bigger than any storm” while patting someone on the back who’s going through their own personal hell feels trite. So please know that when I say this, I’m saying it while holding the tension of a very fallen world.
In John 6, Jesus literally walked on the sea in the midst of a storm to reach his disciples in their boat. And the text says, “But he (Jesus) said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid.’ 21 Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” (John 6:20-21) The boat and the people in it immediately transported to land.
Jesus is stronger than weather. He can defy physics. We’ve seen him heal disease and read the heart of man. There’s nothing we may face on this planet stronger than him.
But here’s the tension: you and I are probably in the middle of a trial (or have been through a trial) that feels bigger than him. I get it. I really do. I don’t understand why God allows all the things he allows on this planet. But when we face trials that we don’t understand, we have to be careful not to define God through the lens of our circumstance.
Let me explain. If in the middle of a painful season of life, I begin with the pain and try to define God through it, I will likely come up with a wrong definition of God. It might sound something like, “I’m in this painful season of life that God doesn’t seem to be fixing. Therefore, God must not be stronger than this trial or else he’d take it away.” Hopelessness and despair quickly follow.
But if we begin with the character of God and then define the storms of life through the lens of his character, we come to a very different ending. It might sound something like, “God, I know you’re stronger than everything. There isn’t anything stronger than you. And I know you love me – you have told me over and over again and even sent your Son to give me eternal life. So even though I don’t understand why you’re allowing what you’re allowing, I’m declaring my trust in you. You are faithful. You are good. Please give me wisdom and strength to get through this as only you can.” Do you hear the difference?
Jesus is stronger than any storm we may face. And if he doesn’t calm the external storm we face in the timing we want, for whatever reasons he may have, he promises to calm our internal storm with peace that only comes through faith in him.
Our "work" is to believe in Jesus.
I love to-do lists. Love them. I’m one of those who will even make a to-do list at the end of the day with all the things I accomplished earlier in the day, just so I can check them off. It’s a disease. But let’s be real. To-do lists are often tied to my own need to prove accomplishment to myself…or to others.
Jesus strips that all away. There’s no “doing” of a bunch of things to reach or impress Jesus. We can’t work our way into the eternal life he offers. We can’t go to church enough or feed the hungry enough or stand for justice enough or any other “good” thing enough. Because the ultimate problem we face isn’t physical, it’s spiritual. According to Jesus, the “work” we have to do is believe. Everything else flows from there.
25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” 26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
They wanted a to-do list. But he called them to faith – believe in Christ, the Son of God who came to save us.
Jesus is the Bread of Life.
The chapter began with Jesus miraculously providing physical bread to physically feed the crowd. The chapter ends with Jesus explaining that he is the bread of life. “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.'” (John 6:35) Again, Jesus was speaking of a spiritual reality while they were listening with a physical mentality.
We feast on a lot of things on this planet in efforts to find “life.” We feast on money and fame. We feast on image and power. We feast and feast and feast and in the end, we’re left hungry. Even after I get that pair of wide-legged jeans I’d been wanting for weeks, I still want something else 5 minutes later. Feasting and feasting. And left hungry.
We as humans naturally look to this world for help, hope, security, and satisfaction. But Jesus speaks of spiritual realities. He has spiritual solutions to things we can sometimes confuse as physical necessities.
Disclaimer: Words in Red is a devotional blog series created for personal reflection and spiritual encouragement. All writing is original and created solely by the author, Lara Howard—AI was not used in the development of this content. All content in this series is copyrighted and may not be reproduced, distributed, or used without written permission. © Think True Things
