A Difficulty for New Believers

Scripture: They replied, "You must show us more miracles if you want us to believe you are the Messiah. Give us free bread every day, like our fathers had while they journeyed through the wilderness! As the Scriptures say, 'Moses gave them bread from heaven.'" John 6:30-31

Observation: As the people are asking Jesus for more bread - more miraculous feeding - they draw a parallel to manna. They call it bread from heaven, given daily by Moses, to justify their request that Jesus give them bread daily. When Jesus explains how they have misunderstood the scriptures and misapplied the purpose of miraculous feedings, they people grumble, causing Jesus to even clarify what it means to be called to him in faith.

Application: Just last night, we were talking about how new believers in Jesus can get confused when aligning their new understanding of faith with other belief systems. They can believe that concepts like ... spiritualism is just an extension of the idea of eternal life in heaven, or energy vortexes make sense since God created rocks and crystals, or zen practices can enhance daily prayer. It is hard to understand why these statements are not true without deeper understanding of Jesus.

In this example, the people had misunderstandings about what manna even was (it wasn't bread, nor from Moses), why it was provided (it wasn't a standard practice of God to simply rain down food every day), and the purpose of miracles in the first place (they aren't magic designed to build belief). With these mistaken baseline assumptions, the people grumbled when Jesus explained the basic concept of salvation by faith in Messiah.

None of these means these people couldn't eventually set aside their old practices and flawed assumptions for a deep relationship with Jesus. They may someday understand. However, patience would be required.

Prayer: Lord, I want to be careful considering myself a person with a mature understanding of faith, for I know that I can be flawed and wrong in so many ways. At the same time, our church is largely a collection of those new to faith, who often struggle with some of the basics and with finding the differentiation between your truth and good-sounding but flawed secularism. If I ever have a roll to play in helping with this, may your Spirit guide my words and my understand, and may not my own flawed thoughts be passed to others. I am not a shepherd to these sheep, but I may be a dog who aids in keeping them organized. But thy will be done. Amen.