John 6:46-51

John 6:46-51 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Although our lives often bring tribulations and problems, a walk of faith with a life hid with Christ in God leads us into inexpressible joy and allows us not to dwell upon the difficulties, setbacks, and discouragements of daily living. According to scripture, the joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10), yet we often let the cares and the disappointments of this world pull us down into deep pits of despair where we wallow in self-pity and cry out, "Woe is me; how can I possibly go on, and there is no one to help me either. My friends, family, and even my church have let me down." We find little joy, almost no hope, and peace escapes us, for we are looking inward at ourselves or outward towards other people rather than upward to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Messiah: Ransom for Sinners, Hope for the Weary, King of Kings, Light in the Darkness, Bread for the Hungry, Water in a dry and thirsty land. We could go on and on, for the Word is full of the answer to every need we will ever face.

If our joy depends upon our circumstances and the help of others, then we are looking for a certain feeling of happiness or wellbeing that comes and goes depending upon whether or not things go our way. We will never find lasting joy, peace, and stability in Christ our Lord. We will never present a consistent witness for the gospel of the living Lord. Joy, real joy, wonderful joy is a gift, a wonderful blood-bought gift from God, a grace gift that we do not deserve and cannot earn. Jesus paid the price for our joy, and gives this amazing gift in abundance in the midst of the worst of circumstances with the other fruits of the Spirit: the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23) As we grow in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, God wants to reap a harvest of the Spirit in our lives as we keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) in Christ. Jesus said, if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. The disciples and the early church experienced many trials. Their lives and their children's lives were constantly in danger. They were mistreated horribly, beyond our imaginations, for spreading the gospel and doing good in Jesus' name. They experienced horrendous abuse by the world: they were killed, raped, and tortured; yet they persevered with joy in their souls and songs of praise on their lips, speaking faith wherever they went.

Peter who faced continuous abuse and eventual crucifixion upside down, tells us to praise the Lord if you (we) are punished for doing right! (1 Peter 2:19). He rested in the knowledge that God is just and vengence is his. He also wrote: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith — of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9) Our hope is not in this life or the things of this life: our hope rests IN CHRIST, who is our life. He came not to condemn us or to judge us. He came into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in [him] should stay in darkness. (John 12:46) God is our inheritance: our final destination. Walk in the Light today: trust in him and rejoice in him. He loves you, oh how He loves YOU!