Taste & see...

Jesus is the bread of life – I was preaching on this tasty theme on Sunday and I haven’t been able to get this image out of my mind! It is so graphic and mouth watering. You just have to think of fresh bread, straight out of the oven, still warm, and immediately your senses are working…. the smell…. the feel… the taste… absolutely irresistible! And here’s the bonus – it’s nourishing and good for you (well, for most people fortunate enough to be able to enjoy it).

Isn’t that such a great illustration of what Jesus wants to be to us – the bread of life? Doesn’t that give us such a helpful picture of what it means to live as a Christian – to hurry into his presence eagerly each day like a hungry person rushing to the bakers, and to enjoy him and take him into our lives for the day ahead? There’s no empty ritual here, instead there’s a motivation of delight, anticipating something (or someone) very tasty!

John Piper goes as far as to say that in fact the very reason God gave us an appetite for bread was so that we could get some idea of what Jesus wants to be to us. I quote him:
‘One of the reasons God created bread—or created the grain and the water and yeast and fire and human intelligence to make it, and I mean the really good kind, that’s not mainly air—is so that when Jesus Christ came into the world, he would be able to use the enjoyment of bread and the nourishment of bread as an illustration of what it means to believe on him and be satisfied with him. I believe that with all my heart. Bread exists to help us know what it is like to be satisfied in Jesus.’

O taste and see that the Lord is good!

Goff