Woner Bread

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. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:35-40 ESV). I often do the grocery shopping for Mary and I. It just works out better for our schedules. The other day as I went into the local Kroger (though I’m sure the experience could be duplicated at any grocery store), I was struck with all the choices of bread. Now I know that at my age that should have happened long ago, but I guess I haven’t been paying much attention to that vital piece of information. Seriously, there was multigrain bread, oat bread, flax bread, whole wheat bread, white bread, rye bread, pumpernickel bread, raisin bread and cinnamon bread. Really I wanted Italian bread. Do you remember the Howdy Doody Show? I know that does date me. But, when I was kid it was one of the staples of my television diet. At any rate, Buffalo Bob, who was one of the stars of the show, told us Wonder Bread advertised that it built strong bodies in eight ways. Later it became twelve ways. It has been decades since I have had a piece of Wonder Bread. I guess I need to return to it since if ever there was a time for a healthier body it might be now in my life! Maybe I should switch to Wonder Bread. Would it be better if I ate it with peanut butter and jelly, or lettuce, tomato and fake bacon? Well, that’s certainly getting into a deeper discussion than I intended for this little inspirational thought! It does begin with the fact that Jesus made several references to bread. He actually called Himself “The Bread of Life.” I think we could say Jesus is “The Real Wonder Bread.” He also talked about yeast and how pervasive it can be. He warned His disciples about the yeast of the Pharisees. Often I have seen congregations infected with the yeast of works. They are fed a diet of grace and along comes a smooth talking preacher who so subtly and probably ignorantly talks about grace and then adds the poisonous word “but”. Beware of the word “but.” It comes like this, “We are saved by grace, but …” It works its destructive force so subtly we barely notice it. A dear friend of mine recently said, “I am so afraid I will be lost for one little sin I don’t know about.” Jesus is the wholesome Bread of Life. He nourishes. He sustains. He gives us life eternally. I think I might stick with my Italian bread for home, but for life it can only be the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ! What about you?