Intro: I have a great respect for the overall brilliance of the mind that our God designed and imparted to human beings. God has provided us with the ability to gain intellectual knowledge, reason, and wisdom. We have a computer in our heads and God is the necessary Host if we are going to connect to Truth. Remember, even believers need to continually consume the eternal Word of God to know how to think properly; we need the divine perspective. The devil is the father of lies who hates the Truth (John 8:44). He tries to speak lies into our thoughts in order to bring deception. The Word has the power to renew our minds and lift us out of worldly thinking into righteous thinking, so we can know the will of God for our lives (Romans 12:2).
Human beings are uniquely designed by the hand of God. Our minds, wills, and personalities are all known to our Creator. When we connect to God through the work of Jesus Christ, everything begins to make sense. Being born again from above is to connect to the divine. No one can believe Jesus is the Son of God unless God helps, because our human minds will dismiss Truth. In Christ, we know and have fellowship with God and can begin to learn who we are according to the Creator’s design. Unfortunately, many people try to decide who they are and what life is about by using their carnal (un-renewed) minds, wills, and emotions without the help of Jesus and his righteous perspective. What a mess we can make of our lives when we make our own human thoughts and feelings our gods (paganism).
In our passage today, the Jewish leaders cannot wrap their heads around how Jesus could be the divine Son of God, as well as the human son of Joseph and Mary. They have no ability to think about how God could send Christ’s Spirit to earth in order to inhabit a human body. These leaders could not believe even though Jesus said the same things Isaiah prophesied about the Messiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free” (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1). Jesus is the Truth; he brings salvation and we must allow the Word to help us spiritually see, know, and live in eternal life.
John 6:41-51
41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph? We know his father and mother. How can he say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”
43 But Jesus replied, “Stop complaining about what I said. 44 For no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me, and at the last day I will raise them up. 45 As it is written in the Scriptures, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 (Not that anyone has ever seen the Father; only I, who was sent from God, have seen him.)
47 “I tell you the truth, anyone who believes has eternal life. 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all died. 50 Anyone who eats the bread from heaven, however, will never die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; and this bread, which I will offer so the world may live, is my flesh.”
Prayer: Lord, thank you for helping your children know the Truth; it is a battle each day to fight the lies the devil sends our way. As we believe and place our trust in you, we will grow and mature. We will become more like Jesus; flesh filled with your divine Spirit. Through the Word, put a guard over our thoughts. Please protect us and help our unbelief. In Jesus’ name. Amen.