Don’t Skip the Bread!

Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls - hot and steamy, fresh out of the oven, covered with their special sweet

cinnamon butter...don’t they just melt in your mouth? One of the first questions out of the server’s mouth as customers are seated at the table is, “Would you like some dinner rolls?” Nowadays bread is considered optional and many make the choice to skip the bread in favor of others foods.

But this was not always the case.  Until recent history, bread was considered essential to life. If you had no bread you had no food. If you had no food you had no life. This is the context that Jesus speaks into when He says, “I AM the bread of life.” He is not saying that He is like one of those Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls - something good ... but something optional.   No, Jesus’ original audience would  have heard Him saying, “I am essential to you...without Me there is no life.” Jesus is teaching us that He is essential to us for life. Life - the fullness of life that includes contentment, satisfaction, peace and joy, reconciliation and relationship with our Creator on a day-by-day basis, as well as future resurrection of our bodies and eternal life in the presence of God. 

And how do we eat from this Bread of Life? “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” We eat by feasting at the table of God’s Word. His Word is the bread - His Word is essential to give life and nourishment to our souls. The more we eat, the more it becomes a part of us and the more we eat of His Word, the more Jesus sustains us with life through the nourishment of His Word.

I fear, though, that like our contemporary culture’s view of bread as something good- but optional, we view Jesus and His Word as good - but optional. We skip eating the bread of God’s Word in favor of other forms of sustenance that we hope will give us life. But they will only leave our souls empty and malnourished. 

You can skip the Texas Roadhouse dinner rolls if you want to, but don’t skip eating daily from the Bread of Life! It is essential for your soul!