Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, March 28th, 2024
Maundy Thursday
There are 3 days til Easter!
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Daily Devotionals
Bowen's Daily Meditations
Devotional: June 1st

Resource Toolbox

"I am the bread of life." - John 6:35.

Men have what they regard as life; and if you tell them that it is not life, they smile at your quaint way of viewing things, and at your figurative language. But, really, what men call life is but a momentary evasion of death. Death dogs you everywhere. He hath long since written his name upon you; and he suffers not a day to go by in which he does not extort a new confession from your mortal constitution, to the effect that you are his. All pain, all weariness, all loss, all decay, proclaims that you are a respited criminal.

Men insist on regarding the existence they now possess as natural, regular, and just what the universal system of things requires. They cannot patiently hearken to the doctrine that man is fallen, that his present estate is in consequence abnormal, out of joint. They call this life, deeming this to be God’s great gift, even his best; and are bewildered at the statement that this is death, God’s real gift of life having been cast away. It is a great approach to emancipation for a soul to discover that humanity is wrecked; at sea in an open and shattered boat; defending itself from death for a little moment by a drop of water and an ounce of bread; ready to perish whenever it shall please the mysterious monarch to step from some billow into the boat. But when we have found that what men call life is not life, a question of unspeakable interest arises. Is there life for man? Will God, indeed, let us re-enter Eden, and put forth our hand and eat of the fruit of the tree of life, and live forever? When Christ, taking his stand in the centre of the human family, proclaims, " I am the bread of life," then Eden is come again, Eden with opened doors, with no sword-waving cherubim, but with its tree of life in full view, and within easy reach. The door that will be closed against many in the last day, is no other than the door that has stood open for them many a long year; and the life from which they with anguish will be forever divorced, is just the life that is now offered to them day by day, and offered in vain. If we would have a lively illustration of the meaning of these words, we should give our attention to the few barley loaves that were taken from the basket of that lad, multiplied and distributed to the apostles; which kept multiplying as they kept breaking and distributing it to the multitude; which kept on multiplying as the multitude kept breaking it and handing it every man to his neighbor; which abundantly met the wants of five thousand men, besides women and children, and would have met the wants of the whole world had it been there; which was so much greater for all its communications that it required twelve baskets to hold it, after the banquet was over.

-

Subscribe …
Get the latest devotional delivered straight to your inbox every week by signing up for the "Bowen's Daily Meditations" subscription list. Simply provide your email address below, click on "Subscribe!", and you'll receive a confirmation email from us. Follow the instructions in the email to confirm your subscription to this list.
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile