Filled Up

Jesus said, “It is written: Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” 

– Matthew 4:4

What’s your relationship with carbohydrates?  Are you mesmerized by the thought of bread, pasta, cakes and pies, or do you view them as the enemy of your waistline…like rocket fuel for putting on pounds? 

My stepfather loves to have bread with every dinner, no matter what’s on the menu. My youngest daughter orders mac-n-cheese in a bread bowl whenever we have lunch at Panera.  Those two carb lovers can’t go a day without bread. I don’t have a strong opinion when it comes to eating bread but Jesus sure does.

Not only did Jesus teach us to pray to God each and every day for our “daily bread,” but He also fought Satan’s temptation in the desert by quoting Deut. 8:3, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from God’s mouth.”  When Jesus said this, He had been fasting for forty days. Satan tried to test Jesus’ power by tempting Him to change stones into bread to satisfy His obvious hunger.  Jesus looked to God’s word to sustain Him, not a quick fix of carbo loading.

Taking a closer look at Deut. 8:3, we find that Moses was reminding God’s people of their forty-year trek through the wilderness, when God fed them Manna, bread from heaven that He supplied daily.  Moses prompted them to recall how God was fully responsible for their survival and satisfaction.  Without God and his daily Manna, they would have died only a few days into their epic trek.  

Because the “bread from heaven” would rot after one day, God used Manna to teach His people that they could not store up provisions or fill their stomachs and souls by their own hands.  They had to depend on God daily to be their supplier and satisfier.  He is still trying to teach us just that today, thousands of years later, on our own journeys.  

What are you nourishing your soul with?  Are you filling shopping carts with new things?  Are you filling bank accounts with money?  Are you filling the gas tank of a fancy car?  Are you filling a refrigerator full of comfort food to combat an ache in your heart?  Or are you filling your calendar with events to crowd out loneliness or silence that scares you?

Eventually we’ll Wake Up and find our closets are over-stuffed, the money is never enough, the expensive car is filthy, the refrigerator stinks, and our calendar is exhausting us.  God will use our depleted, dry, and desolate souls to awaken us to what will truly satisfy: Himself.

When we look to Jesus to fill our souls with His daily presence and power, then we’ll stop doing laps in our self-made wilderness and step into our “Promised Land,” the plans God has for each one of us. 

Fill your soul daily with the Bread of Life that fully satisfies. 

The Power of Giving God Thanks Will Ignite Your Faith and Change Your World!

Thank You for Being a part of the 3 O’Clock Wake Up Movement