There will be times in everyone’s life when Truth is revealed to us in ways we cannot ignore. We must decide about Truth. (To not make a decision is also a decision, so there’s no getting around it!) We either stand with Truth or question Truth. As we question Truth with a real desire to understand, we begin to see Truth for who He is. If we question, looking for loopholes to make Truth easier to swallow, we are giving in to dark thinking that entices us to follow all other voices of the world around us advising us “not to get too involved” and “to stay cool.” Complacency is also a decision.
When Truth is too hard to swallow, too hard to understand, or too overwhelming to allow a transformation of our lives to live it; we commit or we leave. Commitment means believing without seeing; following without knowing what happens next. We either believe with confidence in the will of God or we do not. We trust God for who He is and what He is doing in our lives or we do not. When we do not, we move on down the road of self-will.
Jesus is Truth. Jesus allows us the freedom to choose between Truth or lies; Life or death. When Truth is revealed and explained; unbelievers argue and debate. At the end of all the noise, The Twelve, Jesus handpicked, were given a chance of choice after many followers left Jesus because Truth was just too hard to swallow.
Jesus asked, “Do you also want to leave?”
We, too, must decide: Do we leave or stay? Commit or ignore? Believe or not? Life or death? Whatever we choose, Jesus expects us to all in or all out. There is no middle ground to stand on.
John 6, The Message
The Bread of Life
27 “Don’t waste your energy striving for perishable food like that. Work for the food that sticks with you, food that nourishes your lasting life, food the Son of Man provides. He and what he does are guaranteed by God the Father to last.”
28 To that they said, “Well, what do we do then to get in on God’s works?”
29 Jesus said, “Sign on with the One that God has sent. That kind of a commitment gets you in on God’s works.”
30-31 They waffled: “Why don’t you give us a clue about who you are, just a hint of what’s going on? When we see what’s up, we’ll commit ourselves. Show us what you can do. Moses fed our ancestors with bread in the desert. It says so in the Scriptures: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
32-33 Jesus responded, “The real significance of that Scripture is not that Moses gave you bread from heaven but that my Father is right now offering you bread from heaven, the real bread. The Bread of God came down out of heaven and is giving life to the world.”
34 They jumped at that: “Master, give us this bread, now and forever!”
35-38 Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever. I have told you this explicitly because even though you have seen me in action, you don’t really believe me. Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go. I came down from heaven not to follow my own agenda but to accomplish the will of the One who sent me.
39-40 “This, in a nutshell, is that will: that everything handed over to me by the Father be completed—not a single detail missed—and at the wrap-up of time I have everything and everyone put together, upright and whole. This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life. My part is to put them on their feet alive and whole at the completion of time.”
41-42 At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?”
43-46 Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.
47-51 “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”
52 At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves: “How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”
53-58 But Jesus didn’t give an inch. “Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day. My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. By eating my flesh and drinking my blood you enter into me and I into you. In the same way that the fully alive Father sent me here and I live because of him, so the one who makes a meal of me lives because of me. This is the Bread from heaven. Your ancestors ate bread and later died. Whoever eats this Bread will live always.”
59 He said these things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum.
Too Tough to Swallow
60 Many among his disciples heard this and said, “This is tough teaching, too tough to swallow.”
61-65 Jesus sensed that his disciples were having a hard time with this and said, “Does this rattle you completely? What would happen if you saw the Son of Man ascending to where he came from? The Spirit can make life. Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making. But some of you are resisting, refusing to have any part in this.” (Jesus knew from the start that some weren’t going to risk themselves with him. He knew also who would betray him.) He went on to say, “This is why I told you earlier that no one is capable of coming to me on his own. You get to me only as a gift from the Father.”
66-67 After this, many of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”
68-69 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”
70-71 Jesus responded, “Haven’t I handpicked you, the Twelve? Still, one of you is a devil!” He was referring to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. This man—one from the Twelve!—was even then getting ready to betray him.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
TRUTH: God is in charge.
TRUTH: Jesus was sent by God to reconcile (reconnect) people to Him.
TRUTH: God desires a personal relationship with us.
TRUTH: God wants no one to perish but have eternal life.
TRUTH: No one comes to God except through Jesus, His Son who died for our sins and rose again in resurrection power to give us hope of this eternal life.
TRUTH: We have the freedom to choose.
TRUTH IN A NUTSHELL: “The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’
God seeks a personal relationship with each one of us! Jesus reveals the heart of God: “This is what my Father wants: that anyone who sees the Son and trusts who he is and what he does and then aligns with him will enter real life, eternal life.” What blessed assurance when Jesus says, “…once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.”
“I am the Bread of Life”—Jesus is reveals that HE will provide all we need to live a committed life with Him that leads to eternal life. But the religious who are programmed to only follow rules with little to no relationship with God took Truth literally, not spiritually, so Truth was just too hard to swallow. Jesus was the enemy to those seeking to hold on tightly to what they themselves had established for themselves. When self-made power is threatened we look for every argument against Truth. The debaters confused and convinced many of Jesus followers—so they left!
Even the Twelve were confused until Jesus patiently revealed Truth as the will of God to save lost souls as the Way to reconcile each soul to God. This isn’t going to be easy! So, Jesus gave them a chance to leave. Jesus already knew the heart of Judas, “the elephant in the room,” when He asked, “Do you also want to leave?”
Peter, not surprisingly, is the first to speak up: “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”
If you’re still deciding, don’t miss this, friends! Jesus explains how our commitment and confidence grows by believing and leaning on the power of His Holy Spirit. We cannot to do life by ourselves. God knows that. “Sheer muscle and willpower don’t make anything happen. Every word I’ve spoken to you is a Spirit-word, and so it is life-making.”—Jesus
“And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” –Jesus, Matthew 28:20
So, are you in or out?
Lord,
I’m with Peter’s thinking, where else would I go? Who else but God would I follow? There is no one like You, Lord. And besides that, you wouldn’t let me go once I believed. You remain in me, so I will remain in You. There is no other way but to trust in You. You are Life. You are all I need. You are love, mercy, and grace as you patiently work out your salvation in me. All I am I owe to you. All I am I give to you.
In Jesus Name, Amen
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 