“I am the Bread of Life.”

 

This is a simple but yet profound statement by Jesus.  It is also translated to say, “I am the bread that gives life.”   He is saying that He is the daily provision for His people.  Just as we need food to survive daily, we need to partake of Him daily for our strength.  He was describing who He was and what He was like.  

Some other things that He said about Himself was that He is the Son of Man, referring to His humanity of being born as a child in Mary’s womb.   He said that He is the Messiah, the one promised to come and save the people.   He said that He is the light of the world, lighting up their darkness and giving life. 

He also said He is in the beginning, a forefather of Abraham and Moses.  He said that He is the good shepherd, that gives His life up to tend and care for the sheep.   He said He is the resurrection and life, providing eternal life to all who believe.  And besides this, He said that He is the way to the Father, the plum line of truth, and the provision of life.  

While He is so much more, all these things are part of who Jesus is.  What seemed to offend others is His confidence in this.  He would speak out clearly without apology about who He was and what He came to do.  He did not pretend or hide.  He had confidence and believed in Himself as He was created and given purpose.   “I AM”   

In the same way, God created us to live out our purpose unabashedly.  We are not to apologize for who we are or hide meekly behind pretending that we have nothing to offer the world.  We are to understand  how and for what we were created and live out of this.  Just as we are not to stifle life in others, we are to not stifle life in ourselves. 

Part of how we live out of who we genuinely are is to have discernment.  We need to listen to God and step out in the truth as He shines the light on our path.   More than what we do is what we are becoming.    So how do we know we are being led by the Spirit versus a passing whim?   Often this comes from experience.

When we are following the Lord on the right path, we will have peace in our heart rather than a check.  God may also give us an external que.  For me, when I am significantly off path, I will look at the clock and it will read 9:11.   As I see this, I will start going back over my activity and realize the area that needs correction.

Scriptures can also tell me, as the Rhama Word, what God is speaking to me at the time.   It is living, active, and powerful to divide our motives and God’s direction.    Another practice that people follow is to ask what is in it for the enemy if you follow that path?  If it causes blessing, it most likely is the Lord’s leading and not the enemies.

Community can also help with discernment.  Often, at least for myself, my husband or an employee will speak something affirming God’s will.  My boss at times as well.   Also, when there is no time to check with others in the moment, praying is a way one can request help and then trust and step out.  

For me, fasting and praying is always effective at giving me guidance for the moment.  When I fast, I have more dreams.  I also hear from God more clear as I seek Him this way.  Because of this, I sometimes struggle to know when not to fast.  Who doesn’t want to hear more clearly from God all the time? 

Once I went to a summer series that was done by people in the congregation.  There was this one guy  that presented that he never hears from God.  He has no leading, no guidance, no revelation, no impact of His presence.  In this, they were highlighting this as something to honor as he was a ‘nice guy.’  I still don’t get that.  As the Word says that if we seek Him, we will find Him, it clearly would have been in his best interest to seek Him.  Being a nice guy is not the end goal.  He doesn’t know what he is missing out on with a friendship with the Lord.

Jesus being our bread that gives life, is something we want to constantly partake of.  In speaking of life here, it is zoe, referring to the fullness of life in every dimension.   It is what is means to really live.  It is not jus a mere existence but a quality of life that is abundant and fulfilling [1].  Most importantly, it is a life that is characterized by a relationship with God. [2].

It is a place of genuinely flourishing as we walk and talk with God.  We were made for this.  It was our place in the garden to be with God, walk with Him and learn from Him, growing more like Him.   It is also the place where love is birthed and overflows.  

We often measure ourselves by what we accomplish in our modern culture, but what we produce should serve the cause of love. If we hold producing results as our primary value, we expect to achieve control,  success, and security on our own terms.  The fruits are suspicion, control and external measuring and comparisons.  [3]

Rather than looking at capability or competence in performing a function, we should consider capacity to love and give as well as spiritual flourishing.   If we give love primacy, it is about what is unfolding and we move toward becoming. [4]

Love calls us to give of ourself over accomplishment and it is the likeness of God.  We are created by love, to live in love and for the sake of love.  This is the place of flourishing- love expressing itself through faith.  Love is a relentless invitation to live into the generosity of God and share this amazing gift with others.  It is an invitation rather than a demand: living in, living into, and being alive within. [5]

Living in this place of receiving His love and giving it away is a place of contemplation.   It is standing in the place of being loved and loving.   We must give our intention room to breathe as it becomes our holy ground, moving us toward love. Desire and intention meet in the place of prayer.   We allow this desire and intention to become who we are[6].  And out of our being love, we love others well.  

It all comes down to the sacrament of the present moment.  As de Caussade writes, “an immense ocean which the heart only fathoms in so far as it overflows with faith, trust, and love.”  [7]  This love is not blinded to reality and the brokenness around us.  Rather it is the answer to it.  It is an openness for the wonder of the Kingdom of God to break forth and goodness to spill out in a flow of healing.  

It makes me think of my phone debacle.  I dropped it accidently in an outhouse latrine and it sunk to the bottom.  I didn’t even want it back at that point.  It was cracked in the front as I had accidently drove my mother’s wheelchair over it the week before.  But since my wallet was attached, I was nervous about leaving it.  My assistant called the company and got them to come get it out.  They poured all this blue liquid over it and then gave it back.  I took it in a napkin thinking it was ruined.   But when I took it apart and threw it in soap and water when I got home, I pulled it out and it was fine.  It was better than fine, the broken screen was like new!  

All that to say, that we can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the muck and the brokenness we are immersed into.  But in being open to the wonder of the Kingdom, we will see amazing miracles.  It is not that the brokenness didn’t exist, but that God healed it and made it like new.   He heals and brings forth life out of brokenness.

Gerald May writes that love is not a passive desire.  It is patient, forgiving, and capable of bearing all things.   And it does not stifle life. [8]  At the same time, it is not a passing whim.  It operates out of our being, not out of need or pressure to do more.  It is a grace of dependence upon the source of the one who we lovingly embrace in our heart. 

This is why our contemplation needs to be rooted in actuality and not fantasy.  It is not an attempt to escape the world, but a desire to embrace it and see it changed.   Contimplation is different than a forced meditation in attempt to keep the mind silent.  This trance of escape is deadening of sensitivity and stifling.  Gerald May writes, “True space is encountered only with the willingness and courage to experience things just as they are.” [9]

Some people follow the practice of the Examine to reflect on their day and their ability to stay connected to the Vine.  A question we can ask at the end of the day in this process is one that May asks his readers, “What are some occasions on which you have felt closest to divine presence, most fully, freely, lovingly present yourself?”  

If living is about being with God and letting His love flow through us, why would we not make this the measure of our days?  In this wonderful place of dependent grace, May notes that he found a rhythm of stretching and yielding (the unforced rhythms of grace), as opposed to willfulness and pressing. 

May writes, “Translated into the wholeness of our being, stretching and yielding are the way of joining the ever-evolving rhythms of love.”  It is a stretching forward force of moving toward God in our intention and consecration, while yielding to His purposes flowing through us with a sense of harmony.  He goes on to write, “When stretching and yielding flow together in harmony, willingness is freed, consecration is empowered, love unfettered, fear conquered.’  [10]

One suggestion that he has around this to “cultivate hope instead of expectation, and each instant will become the next in graceful ease.”  Often, it is our expectations and wants that will drive us off course.   We will try to force our way through and are disappointed it does not live up to what we expect.  This is because we have not made room to enter into this bigger dance.  May notes that this place is not gained by neither force nor indulgence. As we prayerfully hold hope and anticipate His goodness, we can embrace each moment with wonder. 

The question in the moment, is what is God inviting us into right now?  I love that May notes that no romance, human or divine, can ever be achieved.  Rather it is the heart leading the way into an invitation of a dance of being together – moving as one.   May writes, “Only be willing, open, stretching and yielding into what is given.  Let it happen, where and when and as it will.  And pray.” [11]

With all the brokenness we live in, disappointment, and pain, the only way we can stay open to the broken world around us while staying in the place of surrendered love, is through a committed trust in God.  We are not to live by sight but by faith.   We need to move into what Brother Lawrence describes as “pure gazing upon the loving sight of God everywhere.”  

 May writes, “All we need to do is consciously choose to trust as much as possible in God’s loving presence, and in this trust, open.”  He goes on to say that continual communion, even union, with God and this oneness in no way minimized the fullness of humanity.  Rather, nothing need happen apart from God – everything can happen within the awareness of His loving presence with us and moving through us.   [12]

Lord, help us to be with You in everything.  Let us be swept up in a torrent of Your love in a way that flows through us to the world around us.   Give us Your grace, presence and joy as we learn the simplicity of the unforced rhythmed of grace that lead us deeper into Your presence.  Help us to eliminate stress and hurry that come from a performance mentality. 

 

 

1-12. May, Gerald G. MD.  The Awakened Heart: Opening Yourself to The Love You Need.  Harper, San Francisco, CA.  1991.