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Something Is Missing

by Roland Crim
03/30/21
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A couple days ago I was in my morning prayer time with the Lord. I had begun almost an hour earlier and was almost finished when a thought came to my mind. Something is missing. “What could it be”? I thought. I happened to glance over at my recliner and there on the rug next to it sat one of my two Bibles. The other Bible was on the couch next to me. So, what was missing? Quickly it dawned on me that I had omitted my scripture reading from my time of prayer. I gathered up the Bible sitting next to me and turned to the scripture reading for the day.

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.” John 6:35 NIV

I reflected upon the Truth of Jesus’ statement for a couple of minutes. Then I heard that still voice saying to me “I want you to also understand that there is importance to the order in which this verse is put together.” I knew the Holy Spirit was about to enlighten me.

First, Jesus states that He is the bread of life. He first tells us who He is. Did you know that in this discourse of the Lord, the word bread, in reference to Him appears 10 times (verses 32, 33, 35, 48, 50. 51 (3 times), and 58 (2 times)). In 8 of these 10 times there is also reference to life. Jesus is making an important statement which needs to be understood by the reader. That is why this begins the verse which I had read.

Next Jesus says that whoever comes to Him will never go hungry. Why does coming to Him come before believing in Him? Why does the mention of hunger come before the mention of thirst? How can someone believe in Christ before they make a choice to humbly come to Him, approaching Him with a hunger, knowing that something is missing from their life? Before one can believe in Jesus, they must first come to Him. I have heard people say, “I found Jesus.” What I like to think of it is that they came seeking Jesus, and as Jesus tells us, the one who comes to Him will never go hungry.

Lastly in this verse Jesus tell us that the one who believes in Him will never be thirsty. One might retort that the human body can go longer without food than without drink. This is true for the physical body. The one who believes in Christ is bathed in His sacrificial blood. No longer is there a spirit that seeks to be quenched by salvation. Salvation was won for us at Calvary. We for are part must believe in Christ, living according to His will and then we no longer have an unquenched spiritual thirst. We are given the Holy Spirit who indwells us. We have a spiritual eternal fountain within.

As I was preparing my dinner that evening one final thought came to mind concerning the hunger coming before the thirst. When we as believers participate in Holy Communion, which do we take first, the cracker or wafer or the wine? We take the cracker or wafer, representing the body of Christ. We are a member of Christ’s body within the church. We then take the wine in believing that Christ through His sacrifice at Calvary removed our sin and makes us righteous in the presence of the Father. We have the Holy Spirt, no longer spiritually dead, no longer having an unquenched spiritual thirst.

I looked up to Heaven thinking “God you are so good to reveal this to me.” We as Christ’s followers all have “kingdom business” to carry out. Sharing this is one tiny assignment in my “kingdom business” schedule.  God bless you all!