Devo, John

Can I Buy You Lunch?

Can I Buy You Lunch?

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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. — John 6:35-36

I mentioned this in a previous devotional, but there are eight times in John that Jesus declares, "I am." Most of them include a noun called a predicate nominative. The predicate nominative, in this case, is "bread."

Jesus draws a spiritual comparison to a natural law to help people who are confused about him understand who he is. And he is using physical depravity to describe our spiritual depravity in hopes that people will understand what he is talking about. The comparison is this: mankind hungers when deprived of food and water because this is required for physical life. If we don't eat and drink, we die. This is a natural law.

In the same way, mankind has a spiritual hunger and spiritual thirst because we are deprived of spiritual sustenance. And the sustenance required is Jesus, "the bread of life." He is what sustains spiritual life. He is the satisfaction for our souls.

So let me illustrate it this way. If you traveled to a third-world country to a small village in the middle of nowhere that lacked access to food, what would be the most loving response to the people in this small village? Would it be to spend the rest of your life providing them with access to food? Or would it be to present them with "the bread of life" — spiritual food? Well, the answer, according to Jesus, might be both. But providing one without pointing to the need for the other fails to communicate the more critical need. Spiritual food is far more important than physical food. Because as Jesus points out later (John 6:50), everyone who ate the manna in the desert died. But those who find satisfaction in him, "the bread of life," live forever.

So I am going to get practical today. Buy someone lunch, but don't just give them natural food. Present them with the bread of life. Otherwise, they will leave the table still hungry.

ASK THIS: Who are you going to buy lunch today?

DO THIS: At lunch, say something about Jesus, who provides true satisfaction.

PRAY THIS: God, give me the courage to buy someone lunch and talk about Jesus.

PLAY THIS: Talking To Jesus.

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22 thoughts on “Can I Buy You Lunch?”

  2. John says:

    Excellent. Thank You.

    Buy as many lunches as possible, there are a lot of hungry people / souls out there.

  5. David Josker says:

    God, give me the courage to buy someone lunch and talk about Jesus.
    Amen

  6. Mark Humphreys says:

    Our spiritual hunger is more important than our human hunger. Spiritual food gives us eternal life.

  7. Sheldon says:

    Great idea just to share my story and pray that the Holy Spirit uses it to minister to the friend. Pray for me as I share my story and for person I will be taking for lunch.

    • Vince Miller says:

      On it, Sheldon! You are a rockstar.
      When are we planning that trip to your area?

  8. Michael Prill says:

    We need to seek spiritual food every day. My hunger to learn more about Jesus grows every day. I am blessed that Jesus guided me to Vince as going through the devotionals helps to feed my hunger.
    I have shared what I am learning with my men’s group and would love to buy anyone lunch to also share what Jesus is teaching me.

    Have a Blessed Day

  9. Jack says:

    We are a society that lives off fast food and junk food. We are alive but not necessarily healthy. Our appetites are sated but not our nutrient needs are not being met.

    I feel like there is a parallel to this in our spiritual lives as well.

  11. Mark palfenier says:

    I find also that just because Jesus is your savior does not mean your hunger is satisfied. I find hunger for intimacy is a big one for me, just because Jesus is in my heart does not mean I don’t crave intimacy anymore. Why do you think this is? So we can’t make promises that just because we become Christians, we are gonna no longer have hunger anymore (that would be a lie ) so how do you satisfy you hunger for intimacy If u can’t get it from Jesus?The temptation is to get it from earthly relationships as a substitute for what is lacking spiritually. Do you find this to be true in your life too? What is the answer?

    • Vince Miller says:

      Mark, I think this is exactly why Jesus walked among us in human skin. We long for intimacy. Initially, he provided us with a relationship because he saw it was not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). But even this was not enough to satisfy our longings. We craved more and the wrong thing. (Genesis 3:16) But Jesus is God’s reply to the satisfaction we truly long for. (John 4:13-14) In addition, he gives us the Spirit who indwells us. (John 16:13) Psalm 107:9 tells us he fills the longing soul. And yet we still have this war in the flesh until our dying day. (Romans 7:18-20) When the flesh is gone, we will be given new bodies.

    • hank kunel says:

      great question!

      I have found that having a earthly partner who is full of the spirit and frankly more advanced than i really helps fill both appetites.. I suspect is the only way as genesis says..worth the effort to find

    • Trent says:

      If I may be so bold as to add my thoughts, I would suggest that our hunger for intimacy does not become satisfied so that our relationship never grows stale. We hunger for more and thus seek Him, His truth, a deeper more close relationship as long as we live until we go home. If we were to become satisfied, we would no longer be searching and seeking our “bread of life” and would then fall to seeking the twinky of life because it does not satisfy a hunger but TASTES SO GOOD! (Twinky represents evil desires of the flesh in case that is not clear). Good discussion. Strange new format.

      • Eddie Ackerman says:

        Jesus taught us to pray for our DAILY bread, and is explaining to these people that He is the bread of life, so He is the DAILY bread of life, we need new bread daily, just as the Israelites did in the desert.

  12. Leonard Zimmerman says:

    So good and so true. Lord help me to search for more spiritual food and not just physical food

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