What are you hungry for? When Jesus fed the 5,000 in John 6, they were so amazed by his ability to feed them that they began following him. However, Jesus called them out because they were following him only because of the physical bread that he could provide them (John 6:26). They were concerned only with how Jesus could satisfy their immediate hunger, not with the eternal satiation that he could give them by being the bread of life (John 6:35).
Sometimes we too become this kind of follower: we consider only what Jesus can give us for the moment and once that moment passes, we forget him until we get hungry again; we follow him only because we will experience an immediate benefit but then go back to who we were before once that benefit has passed.
In immediate contrast to this story though, once Jesus explains the commitment required to follow him, many of these immediate-benefit followers left him. When Jesus asked the apostles if they would leave too, Peter responds, “To whom shall we go?” (John 6:68). Peter, realizing that there was a bigger need to fill in his life than a one-time hunger, recognized Jesus as the only source that could fill him eternally. Peter placed his hunger and thirst for righteousness above any other desire he might have had in the moment. When Jesus looks for followers, this is the kind of hunger he requires, and this is the kind of hunger he will fulfill.
When we turn our focus from our immediate needs to a long standing desire for righteousness, we will find that the bread of life will feed every hunger we might have.
Andrew Gifford
Dalraida church of Christ is a congregation of Christians that meet in the mid-town area of Montgomery, Alabama. Our goal and purpose is to seek and follow God and His Word in everything that we do in life.