Author: Brian Burdett

“For not even his brothers believed in him.” – John 7:5

It’s humbling to remember that during His earthly ministry, Jesus’ own brothers didn’t believe in Him! It was only after His resurrection that they came to faith and later became church leaders and Scripture writers. Most Christians have family members they dearly love who don’t believe in Jesus. It breaks our hearts but it shouldn’t surprise or discourage us.

If Christ’s own family didn’t believe for many years, it shouldn’t surprise or shake us when we have family members who don’t believe. If they could be so stubborn and hardened toward what many others could see in Jesus, the same is likely true in our families today. Unfortunately (from our human perspective) faith is a gift of God. We can’t persuade, pressure, or badger our believed relatives into God’s Kingdom nor can our faith suffice to make up for their lack of faith. They must come to faith on their own.

As followers of Jesus, we should be sure to share the truth and hope of Christ with them in the best ways we know how. We should be sure to do our very best to follow the example and commands of Jesus (all of them!) around them, because they have the most insight into our failures and hypocrisies. We should verbally live out the Gospel before them, freely confessing our sins and mistakes against them and asking forgiveness in the confidence that God has already forgiven us.

Beyond that, we must pray for them. Even as we do those others things, praying is the most important thing. We don’t save people. God saves people. Coming to faith in Christ is a spiritual act and the best tool we have for spiritual work is committed, diligent prayer. Speak. Act. Confess. Pray.

“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.’” – John 6:35

Jesus is the true, ultimate, lasting satisfaction for our souls. Nothing and no one else is or can be! Apart from Jesus, our souls are constantly searching for satisfaction and our hearts are always desiring something more or something new. We see this play out in the relentless consumerism of our culture. We see this revealed by our ever-shifting passions and pursuits which consume our time and attention until we discard them in frustration because our souls remain unsatisfied.

Hobbies, pleasures, experiences, degrees, purchases, awards, activities, careers, people… We pursue and grasp at these things desperately to provide meaning and purpose for our lives. We try to fill our hungry souls with anything and everything within our reach, telling ourselves that if we could just reach more, we would find peace for our restless souls. But we won’t!

Our souls are restless because they were made for eternity. They’re restless because we were made to be in relationship with God. That’s why our souls can only find lasting satisfaction in Jesus Christ. When we trust in Christ we are united with Him. When we follow Him faithfully, nurturing our relationship with Him through prayer, worship, Scripture, service, and sharing Christ with others we allow ourselves to be filled with Christ’s Spirit.

In Him, our restless souls find peace, rest, and satisfaction. Though we’ll still need to eat dinner, the endless hunger of our souls finds eternal fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Though we’ll still need to drink water, the desperate thirst of our souls is quenched by the Living Water of Jesus Christ. Are you feasting on the Bread of Life? Are you drinking your fill of Living Water?

“Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.” – John 6:21

There’s a miraculous element of the story of Jesus walking on the water that is seldom noted or remarked upon. After hours of frustrated rowing against a windstorm and after the sheer terror of seeing their master walking to them on the surface of the water in the middle of the night, the disciples welcomed Jesus into their boat and they were suddenly and immediately transported to their destination! They quit laboring on their own against the forces of nature, welcomed Jesus into the situation, and it was immediately resolved.

There will be times in your own life where the mere act of welcoming Jesus into a difficult situation will immediately resolve it. As Christians, Jesus is always with us. However, quite often we treat Him as if He’s far away, absent, and uninterested. He isn’t! Too often, our instinct in any difficult situation or season is to row harder, work harder, grit our teeth, and grind it out as if we were alone. We aren’t! Yes, we often have to work hard, but we must do so in a way that welcomes Jesus into our labor and relies on His strength and support because ours is inadequate.

Scripture invites us to take EVERYTHING to God in prayer. Even as we’re rowing hard and gritting our teeth, we need to be praying without ceasing. We need to be inviting Jesus to take over and do the hard work while showing us what we need to do to labor in His strength and will. We need to pray for clarity about whether we even need to be rowing and if so, in which direction. We need to invite His power and strength to fill our weakness and exhaustion. Many times, Jesus will give us the strength to keep rowing. Sometimes, the mere act of inviting Jesus into the situation opens the door for Him to completely and immediately resolve our crisis. Have you invited Jesus into your boat?

“When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, ‘This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!’” – John 6:14

For over 14 centuries, the people of Israel had been waiting for the prophet “like Moses” to come into the world (see Deuteronomy 18). Here, some of them began to realize that Jesus was that long-awaited prophet. What’s most important to us today is the reason they began to understand that about Jesus…

Jesus had just fed the 5000. A group of Jews were out in the desert and Jesus had miraculously provided bread to fill their empty stomachs. This was a visible sign pointing to Jesus being the new Moses. After all, Moses had led a group of Jews out into the desert and God had miraculously provided bread from heaven to fill their empty stomachs. The difference between Moses and Jesus, and the reason Jesus is greater than Moses, is that unlike Moses, Jesus made the bread! He did the work of Moses (leading the people) AND the work of God (providing the bread) because He is more than a prophet, He is God in the flesh.

What’s the true significance of this miracle? Why should we be so moved and excited about Jesus feeding the 5000? Why is it so prominently featured in the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ earthly ministry? Because Moses led the people of God on an exodus out of physical bondage in Egypt and into freedom.

Jesus came to lead an even greater exodus for you and me! Jesus came to lead God’s people (all who trust in Him as Lord) out of bondage to sin and death and into spiritual freedom and eternal life. The miraculous provision of bread in the desert (followed by a miraculous water crossing) points to this deeper spiritual truth about Jesus’ purpose and mission. He’s come to set us free from the consequences of our own sinful rebellion. He’s come to give life to those walking in spiritual death. Yes, Jesus is the prophet like Moses, but He’s also the Messiah like David, the Savior, the Lord, and the Son of God. Believe in Him and be set free forever!

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” – 1 Peter 2:9

If you have trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then Peter’s talking about YOU! Regardless of how you think about yourself or your situation, this is how God sees you. You are a precious member of His family now, chosen and blessed to be part of the people of God which will include believers from every tribe, tongue, and nation.

You are a royal priest. You represent the King of the universe to the world and help connect lost people with their Creator by introducing them to Jesus. You are part of a nation that transcends earthly borders, a citizen of heaven. You are called to holiness and made holy by your holy God. You have been called out of the darkness of sin and death and brought into the glorious light of freedom and new life in Jesus Christ.

You have a purpose. To tell people about what God has done for you through Jesus Christ. To introduce others to Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God. To speak of His beauty, grace, power, mercy, kindness, wisdom, love, peace, patience, faithfulness, and so much more. To tell the stories of His working across thousands of years to redeem people from slavery to freedom. To tell the stories of His working in your life.

In Christ, you are beautiful, you are free, you are renewed, you are made holy, you are given responsibility, you are loved, you are embraced. Now live that reality and proclaim the excellencies of God!