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Jesus said, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (John 6:27)
We're not just physical beings with physical needs. We're spiritual people made to relate to God, and ultimately our deepest longings can only be satisfied in a relationship with him. That's a truth King David knew well, as is clear from Psalm 63:
You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water... I will be satisfied as with the richest of foods.
John 6 begins with a remarkable miracle: with just five small loaves and five small fish, Jesus feeds 5,000 people. He then crosses to the other side of the lake, and the crowd catches up with him. You might assume that all those people gathering around Jesus have great spiritual longings in their hearts. But Jesus knows what's really going on.
"You're looking for me not because you saw the signs I performed, but because you ate the loaves and had your fill."
He recognises that their gathering is not a sign of spiritual hunger. They're focused on material things — glad that he fed them physically, and wanting more. Their hearts are focused on this world. And so Jesus issues these words of challenge:
"Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you."
Jesus' words confront us with a crucial question: What are you living for?
There are many different ways people might answer. One friend recently told me they live for their children. Others say they live for their career. I heard one public figure and entertainer say, "I live for comedy." But Jesus says there are essentially only two possible answers: we can either live for food that spoils or we can live for food that endures. And he makes clear which one he longs for us to choose.
What about us? What are we living for? There are all sorts of things we could live for, but if we're honest, the things of this world don't actually satisfy — and they don't last.
The Romans had a saying: "Money is like seawater. The more you drink, the more thirsty you become." Haven't we all had the experience of saying to ourselves, "If only I achieved that goal, if only I had that experience, then I'd be satisfied" — only to find it doesn't give us the satisfaction we wanted? Maybe there's a moment of euphoria, but then the hunger, the thirst remains.
Perhaps we've been discovering this already in recent weeks and months. Income disappears. Savings are reduced. Jobs are taken away from us. Loved ones don't stick around — they might die. The things of this world don't satisfy, and they don't last. Even if they endure throughout our lives, they'll be robbed from us at death.
A teenager was once asked, "What are you aiming for in life?"
There was a long silence. So many of us don't factor death into our thinking at all.
Jesus said: don't set your hearts, don't live above all for the things of this world, because they don't last. Don't labour for the food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life — food that will last for eternity.
Ultimately, of course, he's talking about himself. He doesn't just give bread — he is the bread. He is the bread of life, and he alone ultimately satisfies. He is the bread that satisfies for eternity.
So often we have to acknowledge that we've not set our hearts above all on the Lord Jesus Christ. We've lived for other things instead.
