For Reading and Meditation:      Matthew 6:19-34We turn now to the next of our Lord's Beatitudes: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). One of the axioms of life is this: everyone thirsts after something. Some thirst for success, some thirst for fame, some thirst for stable relationships, and some thirst for financial security. But there is a thirst which is common to every human heart - the thirst for happiness. Notice, however, that Jesus does not say: "Happy are those who thirst for happiness", but "Happy are those who thirst for righteousness." Happiness, therefore, is a by-product - to get it, you must focus on something else. Dr W.E. Sangster, the famous Methodist preacher, when dealing with this point in one of his sermons, gave this illustration: "Do you enjoy a game of golf or tennis? Then this pleasure is strictly proportioned to the degree to which you lose yourself in the game. While it lasts, it must absorb you: your whole mind should be on the game. If you stop in the midst of it and ask yourself precisely what degree of pleasure you are deriving from this particular stroke, the pleasure will evaporate and you will begin to feel rather foolish in following a wee white ball over a mile or two of turf." To experience happiness, one must forget it and focus on something other than its pursuit. Those who reach out for happiness are for ever unsatisfied - the more they strive, the less they find. Happiness, I say again, is a by-product; it is not something you find, but something that finds you. My Father and my God, I see so clearly that if my goal is wrong, then all of life turns out wrong. Help me to make my goal, not the pursuit of happiness, but the pursuit of righteousness. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 4:1-14</li><li>John 6:35</li><li>Psalm 36:8</li><li>Isaiah 55:1</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What did Jesus promise?</li><li>What do you thirst for?</li></ul></div></div>

Let a little light into your soul every day with this wonderful devotional from English pastor Selwyn Hughes.

Every Day Light with Selwyn Hughes

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (v. 33)

For Reading and Meditation:      Acts 4:1-12We looked yesterday at the statement to the effect that all religions are the same. We must watch out for such statements, for when they are repeated over and over again, and by seemingly sincere people, we can be brainwashed into accepting them. In 1966, when the first multi-faith service was held in an Anglican church in London, in which Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians took part on equal terms, some Christian newspapers described it as a "betrayal of the faith." Nowadays there is hardly a mention of such services although they take place regularly in different parts of our nation, and also in other countries. People seem to have given up the idea of syncretism - the idea that all religions can be fused into one - and are focusing more on pluralism-the recognition of each faith as being of equal value. I take my stand with Dr. Visser't Hooft who said: "It is high time that Christians should rediscover that Jesus Christ did not come to make a contribution to the religious storehouse of mankind, but that in Him God reconciled the world unto Himself." The words of our text for today were displayed outside a church in London until the minister was told by the local authority to take the poster down as it offended some local inhabitants who were adherents of other faiths. "It is not the best way to love one's neighbor as oneself" was how one critic put it. But how can we love our neighbor as ourselves if we make no attempt to share with them the knowledge of salvation in Jesus Christ?O Father, in an age when the faith once delivered to the saints is being watered down, deepen my understanding of it so that I may contend for it without being contentious. In Christ's Name I pray. Amen.<div class="tl-lightgrey mt20 pt20 flexbox-row-wrap jc-around"><div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">AdditionalVerses</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>John 3:1-17</li><li>John 6:35</li><li>John 14:6</li></ul></div>

<div><div class="fs-17 fg-mustard bold center-it">Questions to Consider</div><ul style="margin-top:0px"><li>What Old Testament example shows there is only one way to salvation?</li><li>What did Jesus declare about Himself?</li></ul></div></div>

"Salvation is found in no one else ..." (v. 12)

JESUS proposeth Himself to be our daily sustenance--we need bread for the soul as well as the body. In Jesus is all we need to refresh, strengthen, and satisfy us; but He must be received by faith. He must be daily received. Feeding upon Jesus yesterday will not do for today. We must go to Him afresh this morning. He presents Himself; He says, "Eat, O friends; yea, satisfy yourselves, O my beloved." If the Holy Spirit has given us a spiritual appetite, if we are hungering after righteousness, Jesus, and Jesus only will satisfy us; and we are heartily welcome to live upon Him. Let us set Him before us many times in the day; let us endeavour to feed upon Him; and if we feel weak, faint, or weary, let us make use of this life-giving bread; and let us ever retain the sweet assurance, that if we feed on Jesus we shall live by Him, and have eternal life. Beloved, if you can make a living of anything but Jesus; or if Jesus is not enough in your estimation, you are either in a carnal, or an unhealthy state of soul. Jesus only is THE BREAD OF LIFE: THE BREAD WHICH CAME DOWN FROM HEAVEN!Jesus, Thou art the living bread By which our needy souls are fed, In Thee alone thy children find Enough to fill the empty mind; O let me evermore be fed With this divine, celestial bread!

Written by James Smith for his own flock around 1840, but such was the demand that by 1846 over thirty thousand copies where in circulation.

The Believer's Daily Remembrancer

"I am the bread of life." John 6:35

Men have what they regard as life; and if you tell them that it is not life, they smile at your quaint way of viewing things, and at your figurative language. But, really, what men call life is but a momentary evasion of death. Death dogs you everywhere. He hath long since written his name upon you; and he suffers not a day to go by in which he does not extort a new confession from your mortal constitution, to the effect that you are his. All pain, all weariness, all loss, all decay, proclaims that you are a respited criminal. Men insist on regarding the existence they now possess as natural, regular, and just what the universal system of things requires. They cannot patiently hearken to the doctrine that man is fallen, that his present estate is in consequence abnormal, out of joint. They call this life, deeming this to be God's great gift, even his best; and are bewildered at the statement that this is death, God's real gift of life having been cast away. It is a great approach to emancipation for a soul to discover that humanity is wrecked; at sea in an open and shattered boat; defending itself from death for a little moment by a drop of water and an ounce of bread; ready to perish whenever it shall please the mysterious monarch to step from some billow into the boat. But when we have found that what men call life is not life, a question of unspeakable interest arises. Is there life for man? Will God, indeed, let us re-enter Eden, and put forth our hand and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and live forever? When Christ, taking his stand in the centre of the human family, proclaims, " I am the bread of life," then Eden is come again, Eden with opened doors, with no sword-waving cherubim, but with its tree of life in full view, and within easy reach. The door that will be closed against many in the last day, is no other than the door that has stood open for them many a long year; and the life from which they with anguish will be forever divorced, is just the life that is now offered to them day by day, and offered in vain. If we would have a lively illustration of the meaning of these words, we should give our attention to the few barley loaves that were taken from the basket of that lad, multiplied and distributed to the apostles; which kept multiplying as they kept breaking and distributing it to the multitude; which kept on multiplying as the multitude kept breaking it and handing it every man to his neighbor; which abundantly met the wants of five thousand men, besides women and children, and would have met the wants of the whole world had it been there; which was so much greater for all its communications that it required twelve baskets to hold it, after the banquet was over.

A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.

Bowen's Daily Meditations

"I am the bread of life." - John 6:35. 

John 6:22-40It was the day after the multitude had been fed so marvelously on the five loaves and the two fishes. So great was the impression made by the miracle, that the people were about to take Jesus by force and make Him king. He first sent the disciples away, constraining them to enter the boat and go before Him, unto the other side. Then He sent the multitudes away - and when they were gone He went quietly, unobserved, unto the mountain to pray.The people had been foiled of their purpose to make Jesus king, and were disappointed. They sought Him - but could not find Him. It is a sad thing to lose Jesus. There is an incident in the days of our Lord's boyhood which tells of His mother losing Him. The family had been to Jerusalem, on the occasion of the boy's first Passover, and when they started homeward, Jesus was unawares left behind, and they had gone a whole day's journey before they missed Him. Great was the anxiety and the distress. Not until they had retraced their steps and sought painfully, did they find Him. Many people lose Jesus, some in play, some in pleasure, some in business, some in sorrow, and some in sin.These men, who had lost Jesus in the desert, after vainly searching for Him far and near, crossed the sea and found Him on the other side. Then, when they found Him, they seemed almost to blame Him for disappearing, asking Him, "When did you get here?" Jesus answered, revealing to them their real motive in seeking Him, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill." That is, they sought Jesus, not to honor Him - but only for what they thought He would do for them. We are in danger of thinking of religion only or chiefly from the side of its earthly benefits, for it has the promise of the life that now is, as well as of that which is to come. But the higher blessings should be dearer to us than the lower. We should seek Christ for His own sake, and for the sake of the honor we may do to Him.The lesson which Jesus taught the people that day, we should consider well for ourselves. He said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." We live in a materialistic age, when the quest of the world is for money, for power, for things of the earth, and not for the things that are spiritual and enduring. Men are toiling and wearing out their life in gathering rubbish out of the dust, not thinking of the heavenly treasures, the spiritual things that are in Christ, and which they might have with half the toil and care. We ought not to spend our life in picking up things which we cannot carry through the grave. If we are wise, we will seek rather to gather treasures which we can take with us into eternity. Really, all we can carry out of this world, is whatever we may have of character when we are through with living. The Beatitudes tell us what are the things that will abide. The fruits of the Spirit, of which Paul tells us, are the only qualities which will endure to eternal life.The people seem to have caught at last from the words of Jesus a glimmering of the truth that there were better things to live for than they were yet striving after, and they asked Him, "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" Jesus had said He would "give" them eternal life - but they wanted to "work" for it. People are always making this mistake - instead of accepting eternal life as God's gift - they want to earn it. Jesus corrected their mistaken notion in His answer, "This is the work of God - that you believe on him whom he has sent." There is abundant opportunity for working for Christ - but working does not come first. Having received eternal life through Christ as a gift - we are then to work, presenting our body as a living sacrifice unto God. The first thing in the true life, is to believe on Christ, to receive Him as the revealing of God to us, to commit ourselves to Him, and to let Him live in us. Then Christ becomes the inspiration of our life. He lives in us, and our life is just the working out of His life in us.The people had another question. Jesus had claimed to be the Messiah. What proof could He give? "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?" They remembered that Moses had given their fathers manna, which proved that He was God's prophet, and they wanted Jesus to do something great, which would prove that He was one sent of God. They were thinking all the time - of common food, daily bread, for they were poor and life was hard for them. It is not uncommon in our own times to hear practically the same demand for a sign. People want prosperity as a mark of divine favor. They want to find some reward for following Christ. If their religion does not bring them bread and earthly comforts, they think it is not measuring up to its promises. Yet it is not in this way that Christ is to reward those who follow Him. He gives spiritual life, with inward joy and peace - and not ease and luxury and wealth .Jesus answered their demand, by telling them that He was doing for them a far greater work than Moses had done. Moses gave only bread for the body. It was not the true, the real bread - bread which answered life's deepest needs. Now God was giving them through Him - true bread from heaven. It was not manna - but a person, a life, "For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." Nothing that grows out of the soil of earth - will feed a human soul. We were made for God and for heaven, and must feed our immortal nature upon heavenly bread. Nothing but bread will satisfy hunger; nothing but Christ will meet the cravings of a life.The people begin now to have a true thought of Christ's meaning, although it is still only a glimmering. Instead of asking further questions, however, they make a prayer, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." It was a good prayer - but when they made it - they did not know what they were asking. They wanted the bread that had in it the power to bless, and yet they did not know what that bread was. It is often so in our praying - we have a dim vision of something very beautiful, very good but it is only a shadowy vision to us. It is well that we have an Intercessor to take our poor, ignorant, mistaken prayers and interpret them aright for us, securing for us not what we thought we would get, nor what we would like to receive - but something better, richer, and more divine.Jesus then told them what the bread is, which gives life - and how they could get it. "I am the bread of life! He who comes to me shall never hunger." Christ will satisfy all our desires. Some people imagine that the desires of the heart are sinful things, which must be torn out and destroyed. But that is not what Christ purposes to do. He says that our thirsts shall all be satisfied. He does not mean our sinful and selfish desires, the things of our lusts which we think would satisfy us - but our desires purified, such as Christ meant when He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled."Jesus reminded the people that they had not received Him as the one sent from God. "You also have seen Me, and believe not." That is, they had not eaten the bread of God of which He had been speaking to them. The assurance that follows is one of the most precious words of all the Bible, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." No penitent who ever really comes to Christ, shall be turned away.The closing words of the passage are rich in their revealing of the purpose of Christ's coming into the world. He came to do His Father's will. His will was that of all whom the Father had given the Son, the Son should lose none. Our part in His great purpose is also made very clear, "For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him - shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

A unique type of devotional from the writings of James Russell Miller, published between 1908 and 1913.

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

John 6:22-40

Jesus, the Bread of Life

Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. (John 6:35 ESV)


 
“I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12). “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:14). “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). Here is the great I AM saying what He is. And then you notice how frequently He links with that a ‘shall’. The ‘shalls’ of the ‘I am's’ in John’s Gospel are tremendously impressive – not always using the exact word, but in the context you will find the same conclusion. But here are some of the ‘shalls’. “I am the bread of life... he that eats this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:58). “I am the light of the world; he that follows Me shall not walk in darkness” (John 8:12). The link between what He is and ourselves is this, “he that believeth on Me.” What I AM shall become true of him. “He that believeth on Me shall never die” (John 11:26), “...shall not hunger” (John 6:35), shall never wander like sheep without a shepherd, he shall have a governing, controlling reality like a shepherd in his life. “Shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” What I AM shall become true. “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth on Me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives and believes on Me shall never die.” What I AM is made good when you believe. 
 Now it is not what 
 we are. I am dead; He is alive. I can never be other than dead, but He as the 
 Life can become Life in me in my death, if only I believe. I am hungry, 
 spiritually starved; He is Bread, and I need never hunger; although I shall 
 always hunger in myself, yet He will become the Bread to supply me. Think of 
 it! I need never hunger, I am down there in the country, isolated, getting no 
 fellowship, no food; I am away in some place where there is no spiritual 
 bread, and He says, 
 
 “He that 
 eats Me shall never hunger.” Is that dependent upon where I am, 
 what my situation and circumstances are as to available spiritual meat? No, it 
 is Himself, not a place; it is Himself, not circumstances. But how can it be? – 
 “He that believes.”

This devotional contains short daily portions from a selection of Mr. Austin-Sparks' messages. In his own words, “Perhaps this is just like a window opened into heaven. If you get the right window you can see quite a lot. You can see great things and you can see far things. But the best that I can hope is that this has just opened a window, and that as you look through it you are seeing one thing - how superior is Jesus Christ to all else, and how superior is the dispensation into which we have come, and how superior are all the resources at our disposal to all that ever was before!” Open Windows messages have been selected and compiled by Austin-Sparks.Net from the works of T. Austin-Sparks. In some cases they appear in abridged form. The introductory verse and its associated Bible version have been selected by the editor and did not always appear within the original message.

Open Windows

Features Of Zion - Chapter 4

 The “SHALLS” of Christ 

You say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing”— and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. § The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them. § I am the Lord your God … open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. § I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.

Daily Light on the Daily Path or Daily Light is a Christian daily devotional scripture reading published by Bagster & Sons about 1875. It has been reprinted continually since then. It consists of brief groupings of scripture passages which speak to prominent Biblical themes—two themes (morning and evening) for each day of the year. It appends no commentary, but simply allows scripture to speak for itself.

Morning Daily Light

 He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. 

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. § He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. He satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with goodness. § I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.

 We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house. 

There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” Lord, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. § O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst. § Lord, give us this bread always. § Mary … sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. § One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

Evening Daily Light

 But one thing is needed. 

35 Then Jesus declared, <woj>“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. </woj>

Then Jesus declared, <woj>“I am<cr>1</cr> the bread of life.<cr>2</cr> Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes<cr>3</cr> in me will never be thirsty.<cr>4</cr> </woj>

John 6:35

 35 Then Jesus declared, “I am   the bread of life.   Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes   in me will never be thirsty.  

From Wikipedia: 

The New International Version (NIV) is an English translation of the Bible first published in 1978 by Biblica (formerly the International Bible Society). The NIV was published to meet the need for a modern translation done by Bible scholars using the earliest, highest quality manuscripts available. Of equal importance was that the Bible be expressed in broadly understood modern English.

The NIV is published by Zondervan in the United States and Hodder & Stoughton in the UK. The NIV was updated in 1984 and 2011 and has become one of the most popular and best-selling modern translations.

OT: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; additional sources;
NT: UBS Greek New Testament; Novum Testamentum Graece; additional sources;

New International Version

 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Then Jesus declared, <woj>“I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. </woj>

 Then Jesus declared, “I am   the bread of life.   Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes   in me will never be thirsty.  

Bible Verse of the Day

December 9, 2021

John 6:35 NIV

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