Daily Devotional For Wednesday, June 25, 2025
We have been looking at what it means to follow Jesus. If you read the Gospels, Jesus was a master communicator. He knew people and how to get their attention as well as hold their attention. He often used His surroundings as illustrations to teach biblical truth or He took the people’s condition and used that. On one occasion, He used the feeding of the 5,000 men, not counting the women and children, to teach them a lesson about spiritual food. Read part of this below in John 6:26-34:
“Jesus answered them and said, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. (27) Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.’ (28) Therefore they said to Him, ‘What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?’ (29) Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.’ (30) So they said to Him, ‘What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? (31) Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’ (32) Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. (33) For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives life to the world.’ (34) Then they said to Him, ‘Lord, always give us this bread’” (NASB).
After leading them to the buffet, He told them about the new “manna” God was offering to them. Look at John 6:35, “Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’” (NASB). Jesus took advantage of their already full stomachs, which He had satisfied with their physical hunger, with 5 loaves and 2 fish, with now their spiritual hunger.
We all have cravings. Some of it is specific foods. Some of our cravings have to deal with certain specific material possessions. Some of our cravings have to do with money, sex, position, power, etc. The initial cravings God gave to us were good in the Garden of Eden. Look at Genesis 2:16, The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely” (NASB). The Easy Translation puts Genesis 2:16 this way, ‘You may eat the fruit from any tree in the garden, as much as you like.”
What was true with Adam and Eve is true with us. God hotwired us with cravings and it is not always the cravings that get us into trouble, it is how we deal with them to fulfill them. We have cravings for food, friends and fellowship. Yet, when we come to Genesis 3, things take a dark and deadly turn. Look at how this is described in Genesis 3:6, “When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate” (NASB). Did you notice the two big D words? – delight and desirable. It was delight and desirable that brought another D word into the world – death.
They bought a lie from the devil that what God provided for them in the Garden of Eden was not enough. They looked to what was forbidden, thinking it would satisfy their cravings, even though God had warned that if they ever ate that fruit, everything would change – the length of their lives, their relationship to God and each other, and even nature would change.
So, in John 6, the people referred to how they were fed with manna in the wilderness wanderings. In Exodus 16, we read why and how God fed them with manna each and every day. When we come to Deuteronomy 8:3, we are informed this: “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (NASB).
The manna or bread in the wilderness was to teach them that spiritual bread is more vital and life-saving for us. So, in John 6, when the people, who want more bread and mention manna from Moses, Jesus used this as an opportunity to teach them that the bread that comes from God sustains and meets their spiritual hunger. So, this is why they demand to have it. And then to the shock of them all, Jesus declared this in John 6:35, ‘I am the Bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst’” (NASB).
In one sentence Jesus informed the people that He was God’s bread sent to them to quench and satisfy their spiritual hunger. In other words, “If you want to be satisfied spiritually, put your faith and trust in Me.” So, where am I going with this? Good question. To be a disciple of Jesus means we turn to Him to satisfy our cravings and hunger, not the world. Not all pleasures and cravings are wrong; it is just how we satisfy them that sometimes makes them sinful. Since, we are hotwired to pursue, this means that our satisfaction is not found in some-thing, but in Some One – Jesus Christ.
Assignment: Think about your cravings and hungers. How do you typically go about satisfying them? When are you most vulnerable to satisfy them in the wrong way? If you choose not to satisfy them in the wrong way, how do you let the Lord satisfy your hunger and desires? If someone came to you for help about their own sinful ways of satisfying their cravings, how could they look to you to see and learn how to satisfy them God’s way?
Scripture To Meditate On: John 4:13-14, “Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; (14) but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life’” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, as Your disciple, help me to get my cravings and hungers satisfied by and through You. Please forgive me when I have chosen to rebel against You as Adam and Eve did. I do not want what appears to be a delight and desirable to lead to my death or anyone else’s death. I want to seek You and Your righteousness, Your will and not my will, so that I follow You wherever You lead me. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly