Hunger

There have been days where my schedule is too full to fit lunch in to the day. Instead of sitting down and eating good food, I trade it out for a handful of almonds on the way to my car for the next thing on my to do list for the day. As time goes on I feel the effects of that lack of food and usually end up with a headache, feeling tired, and a grumpy attitude.  I skipped out on a meal in hopes to get more accomplished, but instead I’m shuffling my way through school work, meetings, and other responsibilities halfheartedly and starving for something to fill me up. When I skip out on being fed, I miss out on the fullness of life. 

Now maybe thats being a little extreme to just skip one meal every once in a while, but hopefully the point is across. Rarely will we repeatedly choose to not eat because we have too much to do for the day where it just won’t fit in. Eventually we come to a place where our bodies have to be fed in order to function properly.

Switch to a new perspective: how often are you allowing yourself to feed off true bread?

John 6:35

Jesus said, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 6 is set up in such a special way. It begins with the feeding of the 5,000. In this story Jesus multiplied 5 loaves of bread and 2 fishes to completely satisfy the hunger of 5,000 men. He physically provided bread for them. However, this bread would only tide them over for a couple hours and then they would need to be fed once again. When they fond themselves hungry again they sought Jesus out and began to question Him. After satisfying their physical need, Jesus sought to satisfy their spiritual need. He explained that the bread they had been given the previous day was bread that perishes and that, as stated above, He was the bread of life. The bread He was speaking of wasn’t the same as that that you eat at meals, but a life giving source that completely satisfies all hunger. 

I would love to say that every morning I jump out of bed right as my alarm starts to ring,  cook a filling breakfast and sip orange juice from a coffee mug (because coffee is yuck!) while spending time with the true bread of life- Jesus. While I do make it my goal to squeeze time this in during my mornings, it is normally a squeeze. Instead my morning routine looks more like an hour of snoozing my alarm because I was up past midnight the night before, rushing to clean myself up, find something that isn’t dirty to wear, grab something as I run out the door to eat and begin my day worrying about all that has to be done before I go back to sleep that night. Many times my quiet time with the Lord becomes another addition to my to-do list that I know I need to fit in at some point during the day, but it isn’t a priority for number one. Instead that place falls to homework, meeting this person to discuss this, working on this project, planning this event, and so on and so forth.  Nobody is going to give me a grade on whether or not I spend time in the Word that day. No teacher is going to ask me to submit a journal about it on Blackboard. There’s no deadline that it has to be done before in order to get full credit. Nobody is waiting on me to report to them the progress I’ve made. So, it falls to the end of my to do list for the day .

It isn’t hard to get caught up in a planner and deadlines for each day as a busy college student trying to balance multiple things at once. I’ve assumed that putting off time with the Lord is okay with a list longer than a mile of things that have to be done. As those days go on, however, I find myself lacking in strength, doing things but not getting them done well, complaining, stressed out, and hungry. If you skip a meal, you feel the effects. Yes, that homework has to be done. Yes, the deadline must be met. Yes, it would probably be a good idea to try and get at least 5 hours of sleep every night. But if somewhere in the middle of all that chaos time with Jesus doesn’t fit in, then something needs to be cut out. Or you need to make that not so easy decision to sacrifice some of your time to be filled by the Father. Give that thirty minutes to Jesus in the morning, even if its a sacrifice, even if it puts you a little behind. Trust that He will give you the strength to accomplish what needs to be done throughout the rest of the day through that time with Him. After spending time reading His word, praying, and worshiping you’ll have the fullness of life, the satisfaction you need, and the joy to carry you throughout that to do list and in a much more impactful way than if you had skipped that meal with the bread of life.

John 6:51

I am the living bread the came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

Jesus, the bread of life, gives fullness, satisfaction, and completion through His sacrifice. Eat your lunch, but be hungry by dinner time. Spend time with the true bread, and find fulfillment for a life time. True life comes from Him. In order to fully make your way through that to do list, you must be seeking to be filled by the bread of life. Otherwise, expect hunger in your life for more that no check off of a to-do list can quench. Only through Him do we find true life, true satisfaction, and true meaning to all that needs to be done. Make time with Him a priority and watch how the rest of your life if effected for the better because of it.