04/01/10

Hungry, thirsty kya? (Hindi - Are you hungry or thirsty?)

John 6:35 - And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.


Domino Pizzas uses the slogan 'Hungry kya?' in Mumbai for their marketing campaign. Believers should use the slogan 'Hungry, thirsty kya?' to evangelize Jesus Christ to this world.

In these days where many parts of the world are facing food and water crisis and this scripture should make them believers. This scripture can indirectly satisfy one's physical hunger and thirst but in the Gospel of John it is more directed to the spiritual hunger and thirst.

Before I get to the message one needs to know that the Gospel of John is more than a Gospel, it is actually an autobiography of Jesus Christ, personally dictated by Him to John. The way it starts, the areas of Jesus' life it touches, the prophesies etc. sets it apart from the other Gospels and the Bible as a whole. Many a times I refer to it as the Book of Jesus and the Bible as the Book of Christ.

How does Jesus Christ satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst?

Let me first define why we need food and liquid for our body. Food is required like fuel is required by an engine to run. Food gives nourishment to our body as it runs and grows; the right food also helps build it further. Our body by weight is about 60 percent water and due to many reasons our body continuously keeps losing water. Liquids are required to maintain that proportion. Therefore water helps keep our life going.

Jesus says 'I am the bread of life' and also remember when He said 'eat my body' He actually gave us bread to eat. There are many aspects to what Jesus meant by these words but the most important among these is Jesus is the Word of God that became flesh. Eating His body meant eating (keeping) the Word. It is the Word of God that gives nourishment to our spirit and soul and builds them. The Word of should be consumed by our soul and spirit like our physical body consumes food. It has be broken into smaller parts, chewed upon for some time and then digested by our digestive system, before our body benefits from it fully. Similarly the Word of God needs to be studied by using commentaries, cross references, lexicons, Bible dictionaries, parallel Bibles, Interlinear and other Bible reference books (like we bite our food we do not use one tooth to bite, so why use only one book for spiritual biting?). Once the understanding comes we need to then meditate on it (chew) and then implement it into our living (digest it).

Now coming to water, like water is the greater constituent of our physical body similarly our spirit is the major constituent of our being. It is the Spirit of God which is the Living Water. Without God's Spirit man's spirit and life degrades more and more. Jesus Christ came to give us the Holy Spirit - the Living Water. Even the Old Testament speaks of the Spirit of God as Former and Later Rain (Water from Heaven). Like our body loses water when it works out and creates a thirst, similarly when our spirit works (we do God's work) we increase in thirst and thus receive more of the Living Water (unlimited resource).

In short, when we believe in Jesus Christ we receive the Spirit of God - the Living Water and coming closer to the Bread of Life means coming closer to the truth, thus we our thirst and hunger gets taken away.


[ Prayer Starter ]
Lord God, we thank You for the Heavenly Manna (spiritual food) which You give us to nourish our being. Lord Jesus, we thank You for your Spirit which is Living Water for us. O Holy Spirit, fill us more and more. Guide us to nourish our spiritual food and build our spiritual being stronger...

We make this prayer in Jesus' Name, Amen.


[ Reference Scriptures ]
John 4:10
10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

John 7:38-39
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Spirit was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

The Word of God was given free to us, therefore we should also share it freely with others. (All rights are with God)