Stale Bread

John 6:51 – I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. (NIV)

Returning to our home after ten days away, I opened the refrigerator, and there was a half loaf of bread. I had forgotten to put it into the freezer and it had became stale. The bread had lost its usefulness.

How often do we become spiritually stale and lose our usefulness to God, like the bread left to lose its freshness slowly? Have we ever lost that zest for our relationship with God?

Often it happens because we neglect the spiritual disciplines that enhance our relationship with God.

However, I did find a use for the bread, for it had only become stale, not totally useless. I used it for toast.

Now what about us? God has chosen us to be His, and, though we may have slidden back, God can still find a use for us.

Even in our disobedience, when we busy ourselves with other things and neglect our relationship with Him — things like slackening off reading our Bible, negligence in our devotions, and laxity in prayer — God, through adding a little heat to refine our thinking, can renew our minds and show us the way back.

Like using stale bread to make toast, something useful, we are enabled through God's grace, once more to be living, useful servants for Jesus, knowing He is the Bread of Life.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, when we become spiritually stale, lift us up into Your presence. Renew in us a right mind, so that our spirit can grow again, and we can once more be Your willing servants. Give us strength to rise anew into Your life, as Jesus gives us his bread to strengthen and renew us for life eternal. Let us eat and live for You. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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