This is the first issue of the 21st Century and the first issue of the third millennium. I’m sure you will agree with me that when we look back over the past century and even the past millennium, we will notice that we have made tremendous strides forward in the development of this world. All sorts of things which were problems some 50 or 100 years ago, no longer are. As a matter of fact, many new discoveries have been found which most of us never even dreamed of, such as, developments in genetic engineering, reproductive technology and communication technology. At the same time, some old problems never seem to go away, such as, the problem of world hunger.

Sometimes, the intensity of this problem hits you square between the eyes. You’re watching the evening news and all of a sudden you are confronted with images of starving parents and children. And then, not just a few, but tens of thousand of them. They stand before you with their stunted bodies, look at you with their hollow eyes and their stomachs screaming to be filled with food. They’re always hunger, always anaemic, always unhealthy. And if no help is offered, they will soon die.

When I’m confronted with these type of images, I think of another problem that is even greater than this one. A problem that I would call the spiritual world hunger problem. I find I don’t have to wait till the evening news to be confronted with it. I see it all around me every day again. I run into people whose bodies are spiritually stunted and whose spiritual stomachs are screaming to be filled with lasting food. I find their eyes often spiritually hollow and they often sound as if they’re spiritually anaemic. They just don’t seem to have any zest for real living. And if no help is accepted, sooner or later, they, too, will die. But then the torment will only continue in a much aggravated form.

Perhaps, also you feel this spiritual hunger. There is a feeling of emptiness in your spiritual stomach. Actually, it’s always there in one way or another. For no sooner is it gone than it returns. Something is missing in your life. You don’t know exactly what. But you do know it’s there.

Well, I would like to offer you the help you need. It’s not my own help, but help that comes from God Himself. For in the Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ says, “I am the the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35).

Jesus is the Bread of Life⤒🔗

Jesus had just fed some 5,000 people. All He had used were five small barely loaves and two small fish. When the meal was finished, there were no less than 12 baskets of bread left! Amazing, isn’t it! Well, that’s the type of Helper Jesus is. Someone who is perfectly able to provide for our physical needs. When we’re hungry, He’s there to provide us with food.

After this miracle, Jesus had returned to the place He lived. But the crowds who had witnessed the miracle followed Him. Even though their stomachs had been filled, they were still hungering for more!

When they found Jesus, they asked Him how He had gotten there. Jesus, however, uses their question to move the conversation to a deeper level. And so He urges them not to work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.

When the people ask how they have to work for this food, Jesus tells them that all they have to do is believe in Him.

However, before they are prepared to do this, they first want another miracle. Apparently, having fed 5,000 people with only five loaves of bread and two fish was not sufficient for them. Now they want Jesus to bring down manna from heaven just like God had done for the Israelites when they wandered in the desert for forty years.

Jesus answers them by saying that not Moses was the one who had given the Israelites manna, but his heavenly Father. And He adds that not manna was the real bread, but the One who had come from heaven! He is the real bread! The One who gives life to the world!

“Well,” say the people, “Give us this bread.” And then, not just once, but from now on!

This is the moment Jesus had been waiting for. The conversation had been moving along quite nicely, going a level deeper each time. Now was the time to drive home his point. And He does by telling the crowd that He is the bread of life.

Jesus Nourishes, Strengthens and Satisfies←⤒🔗

I’m sure you all know what bread does. Just remember those starving parents and children. Well, bread helps to avoid those type of problems. For bread makes you strong and healthy, gives you energy and vitality, makes you satisfied and content.

Well, this is what Jesus does. When people come to Him, place their trust in Him, receive Him as their Forgiver and Leader, then He makes them strong and healthy, gives them energy and vitality, satisfies the hunger in their hearts and makes them feel full and content.

Jesus is able to do this because He is no ordinary man. He is the One his Father sent from heaven. He is God Himself! The One who would one day lay down his life for sinners like them. Yet, in doing doing so, He would give life to all who would believe in Him. Life that would also consist in the nourishment and energy and vitality they need to live.

That was very difficult for the crowd of people to believe. For they knew Jesus so well. Moreover, Jesus had not done the miracle they had asked for. He had not made manna come down from heaven like Moses had done for the Israelites. And as for stilling their hunger, they had their own ways of doing this. They had their laws and traditions. As long as they faithfully kept these, then they did not really hunger all that much.

And yet, even though all of this may have been true, what Jesus had just told them was still true. The only way to never hunger again was to come to Him and believe in Him. There just was no other way! All their other ways would not work! And deep down in their stomachs, they knew this, too. Simply keeping their own rules and traditions just did not fill them. It always left them hungry in one way or another. Only a living relationship with a Person would change that. Only “eating” Jesus on a daily basis, would still their hunger, enable them to grow, would give them the spiritual zest and vitality they needed.

“Eating” Jesus on a Daily Dasis←⤒🔗

This is also true for you and me. How satisfied are you really? How full is your spiritual stomach? Do you ever have that gnawing, empty feeling in the pit of your stomach? Is something missing in your life? Something you just cannot place your finger on?

If that is so, then there is only one thing for you to do. And that is come to the Lord Jesus Christ and spiritually eat Him again and again and again. When you do that in faith, the promise Jesus made will also be fulfilled in your life. Truly, you will never hunger or thirst again!

“Where do you find Jesus today?” you ask. Well, you find Him in the Bible. The more you read, study, understand and meditate on the truths of the Bible, the more Jesus will satisfy your spiritual hunger. You also find Him in churches that accept the complete Bible as the Word of God. You will meet Him there as you fellowship with other believers. You will also meet Him as you listen and accept the Word that is preached to you from the pulpit. In that message, the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking to you. The more you listen to this preaching and the more you accept this preaching in faith, the more Jesus Christ will satisfy the hunger that lingers in your heart.

You see, the beautiful thing about the essence of the Christian faith is that it not a belief in a doctrine nor belief in a tradition. How important these things may be – and they are – they are in essence very impersonal things that can never really still the real hunger in your stomach. Only belief in a Person can. And that is what the Christian faith is all about. That is why Jesus said, “I am the bread of life, he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Why wait any longer? Why not come to Jesus today and begin to have your hunger stilled.