As you read the next few paragraphs, keep in mind that I love my wife – keep it in mind especially if you are my wife.

With a couple of small kids around the house, things can be a little stressful.  You know, because you’ve been in our shoes.  And I’ve learned that while a newborn is present in the home, things can be a little edgy.  It might not take much to set one – or both – of us off.  Such is life, I guess.  A few days ago, things were going pretty well.  Alesha was about to go to the store, and she was taking Eli (newborn) with her.  It was going to be a good time for Easton (3 year old) and me, because I really had not been giving him enough attention.  Again, such is life with a newborn.

Let me set the scene for you.  Alesha’s car was in the garage and mine was behind her’s, so she asked me to move mine before she went to the store.  I did.  Her path out of the garage was clear as day.

Somehow, though, she loaded up, buckled Eli in, and backed right into my Jeep.  No damage to mine, but you can now see her driving around town with a busted back bumper and a nice dent in the trunk.  Again, such is life.

I’d like to think that in general, I’m pretty separated from things.  I know there is much more to life than the stuff that I own.  That is, until something happens to one of those things that belongs to me – like a wrecked car.  When something like that happens, it’s hard to remember Jesus’ call to be separated from what we own and work for.

Let me share with you two statements made of the exact same words but with completely different meanings.

Your life is work.  No doubt about it, that’s a true statement. With all the hassles and roadblocks on the path of life, our existence isn’t an easy one, especially if we’re set on following the footsteps of Jesus.  Of course, His teachings are simple, but living them isn’t (He had some words about this in Matthew 7:13-14).

Work is your life. Now, most of us would disagree with that statement with our words and thoughts.  Deep down, we know that our life is made up of a lot more than the hours we log on the job.  But, do our actions back up our words and thoughts?  We’d like to think so, but the reality is that our actions tell a completely different story.  Our behaviors really suggest that work is #1 on our priority lists.

Not a comforting thought, is it?  In fact, you might even be a little angry at the thought of somebody telling you that you are treating your life as if work is the most important thing.  That’s okay, I guess.  It’s a hard truth to swallow, but Jesus’ message to the overworked was essentially that life consists of much more than all this stuff we see.

John 6:27

Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.

There are only 2 real responses to this kind of message.

• You can can resist the teaching. These aren’t my words, they are Jesus’.  And you have the chance to agree with it or not.  You can resist it, refuse to accept it or believe it, and neglect it in the affairs of your daily life.  That’s the easy way.
• You can humbly submit to Jesus’ message. Sure, it might be new and different to you.   It might fly in the face of our culture and all your friends.  People might think you’re crazy when they see the tangible results in your life, but that’s okay – that’s part of following Jesus.

His message was simple – quit worrying about and working for the stuff that doesn’t matter.  Focus on what’s real and the things with eternal rewards and consequences.  Those are the only things that matter, and anything less is perishing.  Or, in Jesus’ language, quit working for the perishable kind food, and start working for the kind that will endure forever.

Normally, when we think of the Bread of Life, we think of things that sustain us in our walks with Jesus.  And that’s pretty much right on target.  Unfortunately, though, we tend to limit the bread of life concept to things like Jesus’ words, the gifts He brought / brings to His people, or any other kind of physical thing that Jesus provides.  In reality, when Jesus provided food for the 5,000, He wasn’t pointing to the stuff He provided for the people, He was pointing to Himself as the real treasure – the bread of life.

• John 6:35 – I am the bread of life.
• John 6:41 – I am the bread which came down from heaven.
• John 6:48 – I am the bread of life.
• John 6:51 – I am the living bread which came down from heaven.

Get the picture?  He was showing that great crowd that He – not His stuff – was the bread of life.  It wasn’t really what Jesus provided that met the needs of the people, it was Him.

• We see it in the feeding of the 5,000.  Without Him, there would have been no lunch for those folks.  They would have been sent into the city to fend for themselves, but Jesus put a stop to it.  And isn’t that exactly what He’s done for us?  Without Him, we’d be forced to try and make our own way spiritually.  But that would be impossible, because we started our spiritual journey as dead people (Ephesians 2:1-3).  And as you’ve probably figured out already, dead people can’t come to life on their own.  They – we – need help.  And Jesus – the bread of life – provided it.
• We see it in the calming of the storm.  Without Jesus, the disciples on that boat could have perished.  Even though they were adept at navigating the seas, they were essentially helpless in that storm.  Thank God for God, right?  They needed help, the kind that only Jesus could give them.

“I’m here for you, and I’ll always be here.”  That was His message.  And we as His followers have a real responsibility to respond to that message with our complete dependence on Him.  That dependence might show up in different ways in different lives, but the motivation is the same: we realize that we can’t be dependent on ourselves or even what Jesus offers – our dependence and trust lies in Jesus as a person, the bread of life.

And when we get to that realization, Jesus is no longer just another hungry guy beside us waiting for lunch – He’s the lunch provider.  And Jesus is no longer a distant guy on the seashore while we’re in the boat of life perishing in a monsoon – He’s right there with us, stilling the storms of life.

I know you’re probably thinking that the above sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.  That was my first reaction when I read it, too.  But when you think deeply about your life and your list of priorities, I think the meaning of that thought becomes clear.

We are good at prioritizing our lives.  We might not think so at times, but somehow, we all tend to put our 1st things first.  When we look back at how we have lived and what activities have filled our days, it’s pretty easy to figure out the things we value most in this life.

The problem is that when we look back, our actions might not have been congruent with the list of priorities that we thought we had.  I’m sure that we would all want to put God / Jesus at the #1 spot on our priority list, but I’m not sure our lives reflect that.  A quick test to see where you stand on this would be to take a look at your calendar and see where you spend most of your days.  If you’re like most of us, you spent a lot of time working, and when you weren’t on the job,you were probably trying to spend as much time with your family as possible – and those aren’t really bad things.

Somewhere in there is the problem with putting Jesus at the top of our priority list.  If He’s at the #1 spot, then we essentially put Him out on an island by Himself.  And if He’s on that island, then He really has no impact on the rest of our lives – our families, careers, recreation, etc.  So there’s the problem, and here’s the fix to it: instead of putting Jesus at the top of your priority list, why not put Him in every priority you have?

We don’t have to isolate Jesus to His own little corner of our lives – it might be a big corner, but it’s still a corner.  In fact, the more I read about His life and His interactions with other people, I think He’d prefer to be at the center of everything we do – not just at the top of the priority list.

The tough part is figuring out for ourselves how to put him in the center of all that we do.  How can you put Him at the center of your career?  Your family?  Your free time?

I can’t answer those questions for you, but I know that if you get it right, 2012 will be a great year for you.