“Eat this Bread and you will live,” Jesus promises us. But even more than that, he says,  “Eat this Bread and I will abide with you, and you will abide with me.”

I like that word abide. To abide is to know that no matter what comes our way, we will not be deserted nor left to face whatever matters on our own. Christ comes to live within us, to take up residence in our spirits, and promises not to leave us.

Over the years I have witnessed many scenes of this abiding presence played out in the lives of persons I have known. None are more powerful, more moving, more meaningful than the images which walk across my mind of faithful spouses who care for each other to the very end. 

There is one where a husband is walking his wife, a victim of Alzheimer’s disease, down the streets in front of the nursing home. She is in a wheelchair, not knowing a thing. He pushes her faithfully day after day. Their love of more than 60 years abides in his heart. 

There is also the picture of a woman standing beside the bed of her husband, holding a hand, offering a calm, reassuring voice to him moments before he’s thrown into convulsions. “I will not leave you.” Abide in me, and I in them,” Jesus says (John 6:56).

In a world of fast food chains, of drive-through windows, of buffet lines and all-you-can-eat salad bars, we are today offered a different kind of food, the Bread of Life. It is food for a hungry soul. It is eternal food which, when you eat it, satisfies the craving of your heart and opens your eyes to see that all else is an imitation and is second rate.

Thanks to Larry M. Goodpaster for sharing.  

What craving in YOUR heart never seems to get filled? 

GOD GIVES US THE INGREDIENTS FOR OUR DAILY BREAD, BUT GOD EXPECTS US TO DO THE BAKING!

A Message and a Podcast to share. Please do.