Keep on Believing
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It is amazing how people take the little things and make them the major things. The Pharisees heard Jesus teach about loving your enemies, not committing adultery, and hungering after righteousness, but what was their focus? Their focus was on finding fault with Jesus instead of looking at their own wrongdoing. They were trying to find relief from their sinfulness by discovering a problem in Jesus. This did not stop His ministry. He continued to teach messages from His Father.
Even the disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand it?” (John 6:60). Yet, Jesus never intended for anyone to literally eat His flesh and drink His blood. When you eat meat, you eat something that is dead and cooked, not something that is alive. Jesus was alive. He wanted them to drink in His Life as living water and take in His Words as how they should live–“But He answered and said, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God’ ” (Matthew 4:4). Jesus stated in John 6:51, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven.” The problem was they did not believe Him. John wrote this book to stir us to keep on believing because you will always have trouble with unbelief.
Through the years there has been much controversy over this passage. People cannot imagine Jesus telling people to eat His flesh and drink His blood. Only a person who knows very little about Scripture and about a personal relationship with Jesus would interpret this passage literally. Even Jesus’ disciples said it was a difficult saying. It is important to remember, that His disciples were undeveloped and in a time of learning and growth in the Truth of Jesus.
Jesus was Living Water to the woman at the well. He also said He was the bread of life and gave His blood for the redemption of man. You do not eat a living sacrifice. John started the book saying Jesus was the Word and the Life. The true spiritual life of a person resides in the person of Christ. You must partake of His Word and Life by believing and trusting in Jesus. When you truly believe, the Words of Christ are real life to you. You must live like Paul described: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
Your body does not feed on the Word; your soul does. Nothing satisfies the soul like the Word of Life–Jesus. Believing in Jesus is coming to God through repentance. In order to come to God, you must leave something. That means you must leave behind your old way of living and thinking. When you believe in Jesus, you must lay down dependence on yourself and let His Thoughts become your way of living. Nothing will satisfy the soul of a true believer like the Word of God. Living in an abiding relationship with Christ satisfies a hunger and thirst for God that will fill you with all of the fruit of the Spirit of Christ, including faithfulness.
From John: True Belief Brings Faithfulness (Book 2) by Alison Veazey and Kerry Skinner.