John 6:66-68–After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”  68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 

Yesterday my youngest daughter observed something about of one of our cats who is always around me.  She said in an annoyed voice, “Jaks only likes you daddy because you feed him!”  I told her, “you are exactly right, he’s an animal, his needs are simple and I fulfill most of his desires in life.”  My answer seemed to make sense to her…

Yet that is how we in our natural state come into the world.  We see parents who work hard to fulfill our needs and desires, so we generally express our love and appreciation.  Though all of us may have different desires that we would like fulfilled, the relative principle is that if we seek someone who can fulfill them, then we expect them to continue fulfilling such desires and we stay satisfied…

This was the exact mentality of the people who followed Jesus for the loaves and fish He filled everyone with.  They saw Jesus as a means to fulfill their desires, and He obliged, for awhile.  But their issue with Jesus came when He desired something from them, and because it didn’t appeal to them, they quit following Him…(John 6:25-66)

The tragic mentality of this way of living, is that we only live to use people for our own desires.  Remaining in the world with a mentality that people and society in general should fulfill my desires, leaves no wonder why selfishness dominates society.  Jesus simply required of the people who left Him, the same mentality they applied to Him.  Jesus asking for a sacrifice beyond what they understood and desired to do, was too much for them to handle…

Though Jesus’ request was a “hard saying” to accept.  Jesus asked the disciples would they leave Him too, and Peter answered, “no” because His Words had eternal life.  In other words, the only power to pull us out of living selfishly to have our desires fulfilled is salvation, and abiding in God’s Word and Spirit.  It takes supernatural grace to live unselfishly.  We may do an unselfish act every now and then, but to consistently live by striving to put our desires aside for what Christ desires, takes a convincing power beyond what we understand to be satisfying…

In His Love, Ld