A daily devotional moment by Chris Garcia
John 6:26–27 (NKJV): Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. 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.”
I want to encourage you with this idea. Some of you are really praying prayers like, "I want to be hungry but I am not hungry." I want to remind you that hunger is something that comes from God. Hunger is something that comes from the Spirit. If you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you. As He draws near to you, you will find yourself desiring Him more and more. The thing about Jesus is that the more that you become filled with Him, the more you desire Him. I want you to see something in the scripture John 6:26-37, “Jesus answered them and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” He is speaking of the reality of physical food. If you read this chapter in context, you will see that there were several occasions when Jesus filled the hungry with physical bread. Two occasions, one with the feeding of the five thousand and also on another occasion. They began to seek Jesus for what He gave them, which was physical food. In verse 26, He opens up with, “I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.” There are essentially two types of people that seek the Lord. Those that want something from Him and those that seek Him for Him. He says, “You seek Me, not because you saw the signs,” Signs of what? Signs of Him being the Messiah. Signs of Him being the Son of God. Signs of Him being Christ. The signs point to Him as being the Son of God and to drawing near to Him and repenting and believing the Gospel. There are two types of people. People seek Him because of the signs of His Messiahship. Him being the Son of God. Those that seek Him, understand that He is the Son of God, and those who seek Him for bread. Physical needs. Those who seek Him because they want Him to do something as if He is some kind of magical genie. A cosmic bellhop. A sugar daddy. A pimp in the sky. Jesus was literally being overcome by so many people that wanted Him because He gave them bread. Physical food to eat. So the reality is that yes there are moments when He gives us physical bread. Are there moments when He provides out of His hands? Yes absolutely. But if we seek Him for what He constantly wants to give us out of His hands, then we are not really seeking Him for Him.
Then He says these words in Verse 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.” Two types of hearts. One that seeks Him for the physical food out of His hands and one that seeks Him for Him. So in verse 27, He brings two distinctions. “Don’t labor for the food that perishes.” He is talking about physical food. Don’t labor for the things that are not eternal. Don’t labor for the temporary. Don’t labor for the here and now. Do not labor for the food that perishes. Which means it perishes and it eventually rots. It is physical food that does not last. Everything in this world is temporal. But the things that are not seen are eternal. Paul expresses this in his words, in his letters. “That we look to the things that are not temporal but invisible. The things that are invisible are more important than the visible temporal realities of this life.” He says, “Do not labor for the food which perishes.” Which shows you this. Look at the perspective of Jesus, it perishes. Someone greater than Solomon is here. In Solomons's writings, in Ecclesiastes, the preacher said, “Vanity vanity, there is nothing new under the sun, it’s wasting away.” The things of this world waste away. He says, “Don’t 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.” Now what is the purpose of physical food? To sustain your earthly life. If you do not eat for long periods of time, your body begins to grow weak and frail. But when you begin to eat food that is physical you, gain energy from that substance called food. Jesus draws a distinction between the natural food and the spiritual. There is spiritual food. What is that spiritual food? He says, “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.” So He is saying do not strive for the food. Strive for the food that the Son of Man gives you. So many times we read things without proper context. Over and over Jesus is referred to as the Son of Man. What is the Son of Man? The Son of Man is an old testament figure that is described in Daniel 7. Jesus is referring to Himself as the Son of Man, that Daniel 7 figure, the King of that eternal Kingdom.
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