Unless you quickly realize that bread is not sufficient for life, you will overwork yourself and may burn out. To avoid such burnout, you should pay close attention to the words of Jesus. He was responding to satan’s temptation but we shall come to the context later. For right now, simply listen to his words.
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” That is pregnant with meaning but we seem to be missing it. I hear of Christians taking on all sorts of work and shifts to make ends meet. Guess what, from this verse alone, those ends will never meet.
And here is why bread is not sufficient for life. Bread is another way of depicting your salaries and wages. You work so hard and those ends are still not meeting even though you are making huge sums of money. How can that be? It is because the more hours you work, the less time you have left for God. And when you ignore God, God blows on even the money you have.
This is so powerful that we must examine the entire verse. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.”
If we knew the full meaning of that verse, we would be better able to apportion our time. Right now, you are looking for much by taking on extra hours and working round the clock. However, at the end of the pay period, it came to very little, surprising you.
God And His Word Are Crucial For Life.
You wonder why and respond by taking on even more hours. This time. You earn enough but when you bring the money home, problems are waiting for the money. Your car battery is dead, your home is leaking or your close relative is sick. Guess what? That is God blowing it away.
And because God is a just God who does nothing without telling us the reason, He shares the reason here. It is because you are ignoring God and the things that pertain to Him. While in the Old Testament, there were many ways to ignore God, in the New Testament, there is one way. Jesus says it is by not reading the word of God. Once you read the word, you will not sin against God. King David was extremely familiar with this concept.
He hid God’s word in his heart so that he would not sin against God. So the question for you and me today is, how much of God’s word do I hide in my heart? Without that, we can work all hours and we still would not enjoy life.
You see, wages, aka bread is not sufficient for life. We need something extra and that ‘something’ is the word of God. You may think that God is unfair but there is a good reason. We shall come to it in the next section; the reason bread is not sufficient for life.
God Gives You Power To Make Wealth
Bread alone cannot be sufficient for life because the power to make wealth comes from God. Please don’t limit that to the power to make money. It is that and then some. Who gives you the power to get a good job? Okay, so it is your resume but who helped you to study until you had that resume?
Who wakes you up in the morning to go to work and who helps you to avoid accidents at work? The answer should be clear by now – God. So, by ignoring God, you are like a river that forgets its source. And you know what happens to such a river? It dries up, much like your finances. Secondly, God gives the power to make wealth is not limited to the power to work and make money.
The wealthiest people on earth are not the hardest working ones. When you make money, God gives you the power to accumulate it by not blowing it away. That is the second, often hidden meaning of that verse is. Unless you know that, you could be making money and still not be building wealth.
We now come to the context of Jesus’ words. He said we cannot live by bread alone but by every word of God in response to satan’s temptation. And while the Bible describes three temptations, we note that this was the very first one. That means if satan can get you in your stomach, he can get all of you. Unfortunately, he has most of us
Satan Tempts Us To Forget Bread Is Not Sufficient For Life
Just as the devil tried to trap Jesus into thinking bread is all we need, he is doing so now. A lot of believers believe that all they need is to work harder Guess who is behind that lie. Satan of course. He tempted Jesus; what makes you think he will not tempt you? He wants you to forget that Jesus said bread is not sufficient for life. Sad to say, he seems to be succeeding in fooling believers. We work ever harder, ignoring God, and wonder why our finances are suffering.
You must resist satan. He has come to steal your joy, kill your finances and destroy your life. However, you cannot resist the devil in your own strength. You need God and that is why the bible lists submitting to God before listing resisting satan in James. It says: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
It was as Jesus resisted the devil after submitting to God that satan fled from Him. Do you want to be free from satan? Submit to God and then resist the devil. And a major way to submit is to know what God wants, which you can only find from His word.
Don’t let the devil continue to deceive you; bread is not sufficient for life. But until you pick up your bible, the devil will continue to fool you. Satan knows, better than some believers that you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Bread Is Absolutely Necessary For Life
That is why he causes you to start dozing as soon as you pick up your bible to read. He does not wish you to be free from his clutches, where you are working so hard you have no time for God. This very day, God will help you to make time for Him. Start reading small and when you see how far your money goes, it will motivate you to study more.
We must also consider the other portion of Jesus’ words. He said, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by the word of God.” Don’t be like the man in our church. Once, I asked him for his day job and his response is still fresh in my mind after these many years. “I sit in the house and read my bibles. (plural)”
Perhaps he wanted to impress me but he failed woefully. Jesus did not say we should not eat bread; just that bread is not sufficient for life. We must eat bread and also eat the word of God. So, for you to say you are reading your bible all the time is to misunderstand Jesus.
Jesus was advocating for us to study the bible in addition to working. The writer of Proverbs has some very useful advice on work, directing us to the lowly ant. We can learn diligence from it; it has no supervisor and yet gathers its food at the right time
We must work, and diligently; but we must also study our bible. That is when we shall have life and have it more abundantly.
Maranatha!
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