I sat eating one of my favorite treats....raspberries and dark chocolate (the raspberries cut the bitterness of my 85% dark chocolate). I eat mostly the Paleo lifestyle as I have found many many benefits from it....but that is beside the point. As I sat eating, I was reminded of this blog, it's name and how it all came to be. It cracks me up that I sit here and write as I have never really been a gifted writer. I do know God has given me the gift of speaking of Him, so I guess some of my friends seem to think this gift will translate to written form....the jury is still out :D Either way, I don't think it really matters as my only intent is to write what Jesus is teaching me in my everyday life. To show HIM off to others so that they might FALL in LOVE with this incredible man.
You see, I am a lover of Jesus above all else in my life. I have been known to be just a 'tad bit' excited about who He is and the deep love He has for me personally as well as for you (no, I might not know you personally, but I do know Jesus is CRAZY in love with you because He knit you together in your mother's womb before you were ever even born and He was willing to die for you even while you were or still are His enemy). I desire for His name and His renown to be known by all and anything I can do to bring His life alive to others...well, sign me up....I want to be willing to do ANYTHING for my Jesus....He is simply the MOST spectacular person to have ever lived. I can even feel the pounding of my chest as I sit here and share Him with you right now. Yes...the pounding when you are pondering your lover, the one you might daydream about all the time. I can see Him looking into my eyes (OH HOW I LONG TO ONE DAY REALLY HAVE HIM FACE TO FACE LOOKING INTO MY EYES), speaking deeply to my soul how much He loves me...NOT because I have done anything special, but because He made me and He alone knows ALL of me and KNOWS exactly what He has planned for me and above all LOVES me scandalously. I am His favorite....oh, don't worry, you are His favorite as well so no need to be too jealous of me (I have NO idea how that works, but I know He says so and I believe Him)...Speaking of His favorite, I am reminded of how John, one of His disciples, always called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved....this kind of reminds me of John...Oh yeah, I had a point to write from John's gospel...sorry I got on a Jesus tangent...this is a common occurrence for me so if you get tired of hearing of Jesus, this might not be the blog to read or maybe it is just the blog you need to read so you too might fall madly in love with this spectacular ONE!!! That is my hope...for you to fall madly in LOVE with JESUS....He is worthy of your love because He loves you so stinking much!!! Before continuing on, will you do me ONE favor. If you take the time to read on, ask God to give you eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to receive Him...the REAL HIM!
In the Gospel of John, chapter 6 (New Living Translation-NLT), Jesus tells His disciples many things. To put the words I have been pondering in context of what came before this "discourse on the true/living food, the bread of life, Jesus," we need to take a brief moment to recount 2 accounts in the life of Jesus. Jesus has just multiplied (for the first time...he does it again just a short time after this miracle as well) a few loaves of bread and small fish into food enough to feed thousands. Then He sends His disciples off in the boat by themselves so that He can spend some much needed time...sleeping....no I'm kidding...He seeks to spend time with His Father-God. Just before dawn approaches, Jesus decides to walk across the lake to arrive at the other side where the disciples are heading. Though this particular blog is not for discussing these two events, both of them have some deeply profound insights into this incredible Jesus...so go check Him out for yourself. I am still fascinated by the fact the Jesus' intent was to pass them by (Mark records this part) even though Jesus saw the disciples straining with the oars b/c of the wind, as well as, Peter getting out of the boat and walking on the water (Matthew records this part). Ahhhh...so many amazing things to uncover about Jesus, but alas I must not get sidetracked again on Him as I do have a point to make in all of this!!! After these two events, Jesus arrives at the shore and begins to teach about HIMSELF being THE BREAD OF LIFE. This passage is so very rich and there is MUCH to mine in it...so much so that no matter how many times I read it I am fairly certain new aspects of Him will crash through my life in deeper and fuller ways every time. Ahhhh, my Jesus can you get a glimpse of Him yet???? So mysterious, so amazing, my heart is beating even faster the more I think on Him!!! Oooops, there I go again....Jesus....did I tell you He's the best lover of your soul EVER!!!
A few things I want to bring out from John 6:22-68 and then I will call this blog done for the day. The crowd is craving more of that 'bread and fishes' Jesus just gave them the other day so they follow Him. He calls them out for coming to Him because they want more actual food, not because they want to know Him. Then He tells them to spend their energy on seeking food that gives eternal life, that only the Son of Man (btw...that's Himself) can give them. Of course, I can't resist...this begs the question, "what do you spend your energy seeking? Why do you seek what you seek and what do you truly seek?" The crowd then tells Jesus they want to perform God's works as well, what should they do? I just love Jesus response....it is soooooooo amazing and here is why. How many times have you heard from thousands of Christians that you have to believe this or do that or act this/that way or read this/that or any other myriad of things because this is the work God wants from you? WELL...this is plainly NOT what Jesus has to say about the subject. Jesus tells the crowds, 'This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the One He has sent." Huh...that is a very 'simple' statement. How can the only work God wants from us is to Believe in Jesus? First, I just want to say a small aside about this kind of 'belief' that is be being referred to in this passage. In the Ancient Middle East culture, this kind of belief in God is three-fold: a mental understanding that something is true, a daily walk of trusting God, and actually acting/doing what He says. The demons 'believe' in God/Jesus as well and shudder, but this kind of belief is only a mental agreement that it is true. The demons do not love God, trust God, obey God or worship Him in any way. It is important to understand this difference because one (the first) which leads to eternal life is mentioned several times in this passage. How do we know John, the writer, is meaning this kind of belief? in short...only this threefold belief is considered genuine faith which provides an INTIMATE KNOWING of Jesus, personally. It is plain that this intimate belief in Jesus is what is being expressed here (it is not the the actual Greek word is different, but the KNOWING that always follows the 3 fold belief is an intimate Knowing, verses the intellectual 'knowing' that follows an intellectual belief). I will dive more into this in a different blog so for now....
I will move on and try to wrap this up quickly (hmmm...that is NOT my strong suite)....Jesus tells the crowd that in their past (history) His Father gave the Israelites the bread from heaven in the wilderness (check out Exodus 16 if you want to understand this more) and the NOW, the Father is giving the Israelites the TRUE bread from heaven. This true bread of course is nothing less than Jesus Himself who came down from heaven and gives life to the world. The crowd asks Jesus to give them this bread (not understanding that Jesus is meaning Himself) every day. Jesus plainly says, "I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE!!! Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty." He then tells them they don't believe in Him, but that those the Father has given Him, He will NEVER reject and that ALL who see the Son and believe in Him will have eternal life! Jesus then restates several times that those who believe in Him will have eternal life and that those who know the Father come to Jesus. The crowd struggles to see Jesus as this bread for many reasons. Jesus then moves on to start talking about the fact that those who believe in Him, the living bread, will live forever and will eat of Him. Eating His body and drinking His blood is true food and anyone who eats of Him HAS eternal life. He repeats this thinking several times over and over in different ways and then adds, anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him and they will never die but live forever. So, following the progression of this passage we see that those who believe in Jesus have eternal life. Those who have eternal life will never be hungry/thirsty. Jesus Himself is the very food that gives life, life everlasting. If you believe, you eat of Him, if you eat of Him, you remain in Him and He in you. Oh, this is getting rather lengthy, so lets move on from this 'heady stuff' so we can ingest what it might mean to Eat Jesus. I think it's rather simple in so many ways. Of course Jesus is NOT meaning literally eating Himself as in cannibalism (no thank you Hannibal Lector or Jeffery Dahmer), but is meaning symbolically of taking Him in every day, like we would physical food or water.
All of this of courses begs another question....how in the world can we eat Jesus body and drink His blood and so have eternal life (btw...I fully believe Jesus means this eternal life starts here and now, not just when we die...many places in the gospels He refers to the abundant, overflowing, joy filled life we can have here and now on this crazy earth when we have HIM). I think many many Christians think we have to believe certain specific things, act a certain way, think this way, do this thing etc. (I call this sin, faith, knowledge, or life management) to have eternal life....but Jesus makes it very clear here....believe in HIM (the REAL Jesus, not the Jesus we think He is or want Him to be or are told He is) and we WILL HAVE eternal life. Here's an interesting thought....when our belief is real--it is the 3-fold kind I mentioned earlier-we will find the more we KNOW this Jesus, the more we will FALL IN LOVE with this Jesus and the more we will hunger and thirst FOR HIM. We will ponder Him, think about Him, who He is, what He has done and how He might be calling us to Himself, just like we do when we fall in love. Jason Gray has an awesome song called, "It's More like Falling in Love" and I think he has hit the nail on the head. Go listen to it, it's awesome! In the book of Revelation Jesus says he holds this against the church at Ephesus...you have lost (forsaken) your FIRST LOVE! I think many Christians in America have lost Jesus as their first LOVE. He has become something to believe in, a cause to fight in or against, and an ideal to strive for or emulate. But Jesus says, eat of Him daily, feast on HIM, who HE says and shows Himself to be and you will really live. Yet so often we don't really believe what He says about Himself, how we should really live life or even who He says we are. We have believed a false Jesus that brings hopelessness, despair, or a heavy burden that cannot be lived up to upon ourselves and others. YUCK!!! This is NOT the way of the Jesus in the gospels. Quite trying to manage your sin, your faith, your righteous living, your knowledge and simply SEEK HIM! IF we will but seek Jesus, fall in love with Him, then HE promises to change EVERYTHING. He will not let us live like we used to, but here is the coolest part...we don't have to TRY to change at all. HE does ALL of the changing IN us when we rest, remain, abide in Him. This is the same as eating Him and this is where abundant and overflowing life comes from NO MATTER how awful the circumstances get around us. Life might be hard and very difficult, but never heavy or without hope if we are keeping our hearts affections on HIM alone. But even if we 'fail' to keep our hearts and minds stayed on Him, there is grace and freedom to simply ask and move back into intimacy with Him. No condemnation for those who believe, so no need to beat ourselves up. When Jesus calls us to stop doing or to change something we are doing, He does so gently and sweetly, even when He penetrates our hearts that might be far from Him. Oh, He is the most spectacular LOVER ever!!! My desire for writing this blog is that you might be intrigued enough about this incredible lover of your soul that you will want to go find Him. Get to KNOW Him. If you don't have a desire, then simply ask Him to give you one. If have NO CLUE who He is, simply ask Him to reveal Himself to You. Keep asking Him, don't stop and then be on the look out for the ways He shows Himself to you. He will BLOW your mind if you but lay your own presumptions aside. Ask Him to give you eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart to receive. I am blown away every day by Him (well, it seems like every day but I do know that there are days when the enemy, satan, has blown such a thick smoke screen my way that I lose sight of my Jesus...satan screams that things are hopeless, but then I reminded....often (but not always) by one of my sweet friends He has blessed me with....that things are NOT as they seem; Jesus is still SUPREME over EVERYTHING; there is MUCH HOPE because I am HIS so I have the victory b/c He has the victory...this is sweet life flowing into my soul when the enemy has attacked...refreshed and renewed, the smoke is blown away and I once again see my amazing lover, my Savior, my King, my friend... again....ahhh...abundant life flowing into my veins....not that He ever went away, I just couldn't see for that moment...but His mercy and grace and love are for those moments even more so....don't you want to know this God/Man? (wow, how circumstances can change is such a moment...just now water has been thrown onto my fire by another--my passion to live out life in love with Jesus in hopes others may catch His LIFE--yet even in this moment I remember things are NOT as they seem!!! :) Jesus wants to make Himself KNOW to you; He just won't force Himself on us. So seek Him, ask Him, FALL IN LOVE with the MAKER and LOVER of your soul. You WILL NOT disappointed, I promise!!
