The Life of Bread

"The Life of Bread"

On this cool autumn morning, as the coffee was brewing and filling the kitchen with my favorite aroma, I decided a slice of buttered toast with strawberry jam would be quite tasty. I had the jam, I had the butter. I just needed bread. My mouth was already watering in anticipation of this sweet treat, such a welcome change from my usual granola bar. I found part of a loaf of bread tucked away behind the cereal boxes in the cabinet. When I opened the bag and looked inside, what I saw didn't resemble anything edible. It looked like a green and black fuzzy creature that could sprout legs and run at any second. So much for the toast and jam idea - another granola bar morning for me.

Such is the life of bread. It sure tastes good . . . when it's fresh. It's very satisfying and very filling . . . for a little while, but you eventually get hungry again and want more. However, a diet that consists of bread alone 24/7 very quickly becomes very unsatisfying and loses its appeal. After a daily diet of bread for awhile, you'd become pretty bored with this one food to satisfy your palate. If you keep it around for too long, it becomes green and moldy and disgusting. What used to taste so good to you no longer gives you pleasure. So, you search for another food to tickle your taste buds. You indulge in that food for awhile, consuming it 24/7, and it too becomes insatiable and uninteresting. The pattern continues. You move from one food to another, searching for palatable pleasure.

There are so many people who are searching for the "perfect food" to satiate their emotional, physical, mental, and spiritual desires. However, most are looking in the wrong places and continually end up feeling empty and dissatisfied. Their quest for pleasure usually begins in a seemingly harmless manner: a teenager attending a party and having his first cigarette or alcoholic drink; a married woman having a private lunch with her male coworker to discuss his marital problems; a man at his computer deciding to take a quick peak at the pop-up ad simply out of "curiosity"; a mom feeling overwhelmed with the demands of her daily routine and accepting an invitation to a nightclub with friends to "unwind"; a young lady deciding to go "just a little bit further" in her relationship with her boyfriend. The list could go on and on . . .

These ingredients are all just the beginnings of very messy recipes for unsavory lives of staleness and bitterness and dissatisfaction. Just as one spore of mold can cover an entire loaf of bread in only three days, sin can quickly get completely out of hand and consume a person before they realize what has happened. One experimental course is never enough. There's always a need for something more tangy or more tart to satisfy your desensitized senses. Just a hint of this, a smidgen of that, a pinch here, a sprinkle there - Making your own recipe for life will ultimately result in slop not fit for human consumption.

If you're experiencing an insatiable appetite for pleasure and worldly "stuff" but can never feel satisfied with what the world has to offer, I want to introduce you to the Bread of Life - the exact opposite of the "life of bread". Jesus Christ refers to Himself as the Bread of Life many times in the Bible. He has promised that whoever eats of this Bread will live forever. If you'll just ask Him, He'll come into your heart and become a part of you, providing continuous nourishment and satisfaction for your mind, soul, and body.

The "life of bread" is a very unhealthy, insufficient, short-lived, and frustrating existence, always leaving you hungry and unsatisfied. The Bread of Life provides complete satisfaction, in this life and the next, and will sustain you with fulfillment in all aspects of your life. All you have to do is ask to be fed. There's an ample supply!

Susan Martin
November 1, 2010