Day 24: Settling for Crumbs

Read: John 6:22-40 

The crowd could not get enough of Jesus, no matter how ill-intended their following may have been. At this point in the gospel of John, Jesus had been performing miraculous signs and creating controversy amongst the crowd and Jewish officials for a while. They kept asking what He would do next, and they kept missing the point.  

The disciples traveled nearly five miles from their location on the Sea of Tiberias to the city of Capernaum. The crowd noticed that Jesus was not with the disciples and decided to look for Him. They found Him about five miles later in the city of Capernaum. As soon as they did, they couldn’t wait to ask, “Rabbi, why did you come here?” Jesus called them out. The thing about Jesus being fully God and fully man is that He can pick up on the true intent of people’s hearts. Humans can only speculate.  

Jesus blatantly told the crowd that they were following Him for the wrong reason. They came looking for Him because they had eaten their fill. This crowd, that had just eaten to their hearts’ content, but neglected to see the real work Jesus was doing. It was at this time that Jesus said, “I am the Bread of life.” 

We, ourselves, are not far removed from them. I’ve prayed prayers and attended church events because I believed it would bring good to my life. Like this crowd, it’s easy to go about life waiting for “the next big thing.” We miss the point of a God who is after our hearts and sent his Son to replace our institutions and beliefs with Himself.  

 When we forget to seek God, listen to Jesus, and heed the Holy Spirit, we settle for crumbs and call it a loaf of bread.  

Jesus wants you to take part in all that he has to offer you. He wants to help you to stop nibbling on pieces of things that will never satisfy you. What are some of the crumbs you need to let go of in order to be filled with the loaf of bread?