In John chapter 6 we read of Jesus feeding more than five
thousand people and then withdrawing. The next day when the crowds sought Him out
again He told 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… I am the Bread of Life; whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and
whoever believes in Me shall never thirst” (John 6:26, 35 ESV).
We are often like the crowds, seeking Jesus to meet our felt
needs rather than for a desire to know Him deeply. Sam Allberry wrote about this passage, “The greatest gift Jesus gives us… is Jesus. He is not the means to some
other, separate end. The Bread of Life is not something else, with Jesus being
the one who dispenses it for us. He
is the prize.” Heath Lambert wrote, “They minimized Jesus and his work by seeing him as the
source of only one good thing rather than cherishing him as the fountain for
all life… You should come pursuing a full-fledged relationship with this
sovereign King who saves, desiring to draw close to him in every way, and not
just seeking to get your problems fixed” (142).
It’s not just unbelievers or young Christians who seek Jesus
for the wrong reasons. Even those of us who’ve been on this journey for a while
can lose perspective. Our prayers can become a shopping list: heal this person;
save that one; bless our food; and, oh yes, I could use a little bit of
forgiveness and freedom from temptation too. I know I’m not the only one to
fall into this pit at times. It is all too easy to go through the motions of
prayer and Bible reading without actually seeking God or interacting with Him.
Alistair Begg often uses this short prayer at the beginning of his sermons: “Make
the book live to me, O Lord. Show me Yourself within Your Word. Show me myself
and show me my Savior, and make the book live to me, for Jesus’ sake.” That
might be worth adopting for personal devotional times, though that too can
become a meaningless habit.
How might our lives and our churches be different if we were
truly and consistently seeking a living relationship with our Heavenly Father rather
than seeking the good things He can give us? It is appropriate to be thankful
for forgiveness, the promise of eternal life, and the blessings of life and
family. But we may start to sound like little children at Christmas saying a
perfunctory “Thanks!” while racing off to play with our toys. And yet children
who only get periodic packages from an absentee parent quickly learn that gifts
are meaningless apart from a loving relationship.
The Apostle Paul prayed for the Ephesians:
“[That] according to the riches of
His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in
your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you,
being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the
saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the
love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the
fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:16b-19).
The blessings of His riches are for the purpose of knowing
the Father’s love—knowing the One who is love. We miss out when we settle on
the gifts apart from the Giver. May we not stop short of knowing the best He has to
offer—Himself.
“See what kind of love
the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we
are… So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God
is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1
John 3:1, 4:16).
© 2019 Dawn
Rutan. Unless otherwise indicated all images are copyright free from pixabay.com.
The opinions stated do not necessarily reflect the views of my church or
employer.
