John 6:22-27 quietly cuts like a knife to the heart of an issue I regularly need to re-consider. It challenges me to honestly evaluate why I follow Jesus.
After their hunger had been satisfied by the miracle of the loaves and fish, the crowds saw the Disciples get into their only boat and depart. But they also noted that Jesus didn’t go with them, and that He had headed off alone to a secluded area instead. Then, the next day, when they couldn’t find Him, they got into some other boats that had arrived later and went looking. When they located Him in the Capernaum area, they wanted to know how He’d managed to get there.
It’s interesting to note that Jesus didn’t answer them by telling how He’d walked on water. As dramatic a story as that would have been, He chose Instead to answer their question with a searing statement that revealed the true nature of why they’d followed Him there.
To paraphrase, He said their pursuit was not because they’d just seen this amazing sign of His messiahship and wanted to submit to Him as their Lord. He bluntly declared that the only reason they’d come looking for Him was because He’d provided them with free food. Ouch!
He challenged them to stop viewing their relationship with Him as a means of satisfying the temporary needs of the flesh, and to focus on eternity instead.
I have a relationship with the giant online retailer, Amazon.com. I pay an annual fee for its Prime service so that I can purchase items at what I hope will be discounted prices and have them shipped to me for free within two days. But that’s as far as the relationship goes. It’s transactional. And I’m at the center of it. I will pay that fee and be a loyal customer right up until the moment another company provides me with better prices or service. And if I’m honest, my relationship with Jesus can sometimes look like that.
I can sometimes drift into a state where I’m following Him because of what He provides me: forgiveness of sins, peace that passes understanding, joy inexpressible, the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the supply of all my needs according to His riches in Glory. And as much as the Bible makes it abundantly clear He delights to bless me – and you – in these ways, Matthew 6:33 reminds us that it’s AFTER seeking Him and His kingdom first that all these things are added to us. He wants a relationship with me that’s anchored in the eternal not the temporal. He wants to lead me beyond the here and now into the forever after.
Lord, I pray you’d help me reclaim an eternal perspective as the only motive for why I follow you. May it always be that our relationship is centered around You alone.