Choosing the right food

 This week's verses are John 6:26-27:

Jesus replied, “I tell you the solemn truth, you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. Do not work for the food that disappears, but for the food that remains to eternal life—the food which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the Father has put his seal of approval on him.”

 In these verses, the memory of the miracle of the loaves and fishes is still fresh in people's minds. It was such an impressive demonstration of supernatural provision that a lot of people were following him just to see more of that sort of thing, or maybe just to get some free food. But Jesus turns the situation around and makes us ask ourselves two questions:

1. What is it we want from Jesus

2. Where do we get our nourishment from?

In the first question, about what we want from Jesus, we have to ask ourselves, are we just in it for the freebies? Are we just interested in immediate benefits like potential access to miracles, access to a food pantry and some charity, maybe some nice Bible studies or uplifting music, and so on? What drives us to be Christians?

Some people are miracle-junkies. They travel long distances to see any faith healer who might be performing miracles. They want the experience of encountering the holy spirit, but not necessarily the transformation that is offered alongside it. Others travel from church to church looking for the most comfortable Sunday morning experience, the best music, the shortest service, etc. They want to experience what it feels like to be part of a church. They like being part of the scene, but aren't necessarily interested in what it represents.

How might we have experienced Jesus if we were living in Roman Palestine when these events took place? Would we have traveled to see the big crowds, to hear a good message and see what happens, and then go back to our lives when the show was over? Or would we have packed up and followed him for the rest of time, allowing ourselves to be transformed as his other disciples were?

In the second question, Jesus is asking us where we get our nourishment from? Is it from things that have a sell-by date that is the same as the day we die, and often much sooner? Being entertained only lasts as long as the memory stays in our minds, which is not very long. And hand-outs like food and medical services only make a difference in the tiny fraction of our eternity that we spend living on earth.

Salvation, on the other hand, and the transformation of our character to become more Christlike, are eternal things. Unlike earthly benefits which die when we do, when we invest in these other things, we get to keep them long term. But is that what we nourish ourselves with on a day to day basis? 

Do we get our sense of self-worth, or our sense that the world is OK, from knowing that we are saved from Hell, and that God values us, and that we will eventually quit making the same mistakes over and over? Or do we take that sense of well-being from things like our career, our circle of friends, our marriage, our health, how much money is in our retirement account, how many followers we have on social media, and so on?

I think, as the church, we sometimes do the same thing Jesus did and look at the immediate needs of the people who are gathering, and meet those immediate needs. But when it comes time to follow up, as Jesus does in these verses, we fail. We never ask ourselves "Why are you here?" We never have the conversation Jesus has with the loaf-addicted masses, or the woman at the well, where we say "You know, there is something you can have instead that will keep you from constantly being hungry for these things that don't matter long term."

We don't have a lot of time left. Maybe it's time we looked at our diet of how we are nourishing our souls and did a little meal planning. Some of the stuff we consume is not so great for us. And maybe the staple of our diet is something that will go away very suddenly some day. We can all make better choices. Why not take some time and choose the right nourishment, before it's too late?