The Sunday school teacher was talking to the children. “Yesterday our boys were out behind the shed killing rabbits and getting them ready for the freezer. Now we don’t like the idea of killing nice, cuddly rabbits, but for you and me to eat meat, an animal must die.”
Then he asked the children, “How many of you had bacon for breakfast or a hamburger for lunch one day this week?” He reminded them that we get ham and bacon from a pig, and we get hamburger meat and roast beef from a cow. Pretty much everybody knows where chicken meat comes from. And what about those fish sticks you like to eat? For you to eat any of these meats, an animal, chicken or fish had to die.
The next part of the lesson was about the bread we eat. The teacher gave each of the children a wheat seed. Then he asked, “Does your wheat seed look like it could turn into a loaf of bread?”
The children all laughed and said, “NO.”
Then he told them that if you want wheat bread, a grain of wheat must be buried in the soil and die before it can grow seed heads of wheat that can be ground into flour for baking bread.
“Now, if all of you planted your seed, what would you get?”
“Lots of wheat!” they all said.
“But if each of you planted a stone, what would you get?”
The children looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. “Nothing,” they finally answered.
“Why is that? A stone is much bigger than a seed.”
One of the older children answered, “It doesn’t have any life in it.” That was the right answer.
Just as animals and seeds must die so you can have food to eat that will keep you alive, the Lord Jesus had to die and come back to life by rising from the dead. This was necessary so you and I could receive His life—eternal life—to be ready to live in heaven. Jesus said, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever ... . As the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me” (John 6:51,5751I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (John 6:51)
57As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)).
Are you puzzled and wondering how we can “eat” the Lord Jesus? Think about how you eat food. You fill your mouth with food, chew it until it’s easy to swallow, then you swallow it down. In a similar way, you must fill your mind and heart with the Word of God. Then you “chew” on it and maybe memorize some of it. Ask the Lord Jesus to help you understand and remember what you’ve read. Then just as your digestive system makes food useful to your whole body, the Lord Jesus will make the bread of life useful to you. This will help you to grow into a Christian that the Lord Jesus can use for His plans.
ML-03/25/2012