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The Greatest Thing Since Sliced Bread

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Revelation 3:18 Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.

Today is the twelfth day of counting the omer or the measure of barley grain coming from the harvest. Question is, Are you harvesting the “grain” of His Word? Which raises another question, Why are there so many references to bread in the Bible? Jesus was born in Bethlehem, or the House of Bread. Jesus referred to Himself as the Bread of Life. When Jesus was led in the wilderness by the Spirit – following being filled with the Spirit (Luke 4:1) – He told Satan that man does not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. I can keep going but I believe you have gotten the point. Unbeknownst to most wealthy Westerners, bread, or some form of it is a basic commodity of life. Most of the World’s poor can’t afford to slaughter their chickens, cows or goats every day – but they can afford grain to grind into flour to make bread. Which is an interesting concept. As I mentioned in a previous post barley grain is ground into flour by the impoverished to make bread. Barley bread is inferior to bread made from wheat. Wheat then is known as the bread of the wealthy, or more financially stable. Why is all of this significant and how is it connected to the counting of the omer? 

Revelation 3:18 is addressed to the wealthy, self-satisfied, “have no need” Laodiceans. One of the things Jesus counseled them to do was to purchase from Him “salve” to put on their eyes. How was that significant and relevant to the Laodiceans? The Greek word for eye salve is kollurion. Greek was the primary language spoken by the common, average, everyday person. That being understood the Laodiceans knew this word used by John contained a dual meaning. Kollurion could refer to the medicine produced in Laodicea used for treating various vision problems, or it could refer to a roll of bread. Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament had this to say: The Greek term kolloúrion carries a fascinating dual meaning rooted in its physical form. The word derives from kollýra, which refers to coarse bread shaped like a cylinder. Jesus’ beatitudes commends those who are poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God. 

How do we apply all of this to making the omer count? Only those who “see” their poverty of Spirit will recognize and hunger for the “bread” that not only feeds them – but heals the way they “see”. Are you poor in the things of the Spirit? Or are you so rich spiritually that you don’t need His Bread? Can you see Jesus? Can you hear His Voice? Can you recognize when He knocks? May I suggest paying the price to get alone with Him for Him to eat with you and you with Him? He really does prepare a table in the midst of your enemy. Are you hungry to hear His Voice? Hungry to see Him? Hungry to hear Him knocking?

Who’s Your Daddy?

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Ruth 1: 1, 20-21 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. And a certain man of Bethlehem of Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he, his wife, and his two sons…..20 And she said to them, Call me not Naomi [pleasant]; call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.21 I went out full, but the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?

There are many peculiar contradictions embedded in this first chapter of Ruth: there was a famine in the land…but Naomi claims, I went out full; there is a famine in Bethlehem…the House of Bread? Moab means Who’s your father or Who’s your daddy?…When God was to be their Father. Moabites were historical enemies of Israel from the Exodus through the times of King Saul. Yet this is where Naomi’s husband led his wife and family. What’s really sad is Naomi’s perspective on the entire ordeal: …call me Mara [bitter], for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me….the Lord has brought me home again empty…the Lord has testified against me….the Almighty has afflicted me. The Lord is receiving the blame yet she is missing the obvious and glaring fact that Her husband, Elimelech, led them into their predicament.

Ruth 1:1 states that these were the days the judges ruled. Yet the book of Judges states, But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them. And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed down to them. They turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not so. (Judges 2:16-17) The book of Judges agrees with this Scripture stating that everyone did what was right in their own eyes. (Sound familiar?)

Naomi left Bethlehem full but returned spiritually famished after feeding off the idolatry of Moab. She had grown accustomed to the sacrifice of children in the land of Moab – the god of Chemosh. Her return to the land of her inheritance should have been a returning to God – her Father – instead all she could do was find fault with Him. The only thing she was full of was bitterness and self-pity. But that’s the life of one ruled by self – doing what is right in your own eyes. Hebrews 12:15 warns: See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled;…ESV Over the years I have prayed for people who, although, they began with a root of bitterness – the root grew into a tree, and the fruit it bore was disastrous. Usually this seed sprouts from a perceived hurt. The hurt breeds unforgiveness. Unforgiveness evolves into judgments, and judgments become vows (I would never have done, I would have never said, etc.) While all of these things are rooted in pride, and the center of self, you become a curse. The good news is that our Father is forgiving and loving and Jesus, our Kinsman Redeemer, has already paid our redemption, or ransom. All you have to do is acknowledge your sins, release the person or persons from the judgments you have had, confess your vows, and be restored into right relationship with your True Father. In other words, be released from the prison cell of your own making.

My God, the Stomach?

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Php. 3:18-20 For there are many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, who walk (live) as enemies of the cross of Christ (the Anointed One). They are doomed and their fate is eternal misery (perdition); their god is their stomach (their appetites, their sensuality) and they glory in their shame, siding with earthly things and being of their party. But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) [as] Savior,…AMPC

We are all familiar with Genesis 3 and how Adam and Eve got distracted by forbidden fruit. It didn’t matter that they were allowed to eat from all the other trees in the Garden – they had to have the forbidden fruit. In Genesis 3:19 Adam is cursed to continue eating food but under one condition: his food will be supplied through the sweat of his brow, or his own self-efforts. In Genesis 25 we discover the older brother of Jacob hungry for some red lentil stew. The price of the soup? The birthright of the firstborn.

According to Paul the enemies of the Cross of Christ (Anointed One of the Spirit) are those whose stomach comes first – their appetites, and sensuality. Sensuality is simply defined as the condition of being pleasing or fulfilling to the senses. What’s truly amazing? Is that throughout the Bible God meets us in our sensuality to redeem us from the curse it brings. You find His offers of redemption from the story of Ruth of Bethlehem, to the announcement of His birth to lowly shepherds. Ruth is gathering barley to feed her and her mother-in-law, Naomi. Shepherds are grazing sheep near the House of Bread – Bethlehem – overseeing sheep who do what they do best: eat. All are hungry for more not realizing the Bread of Life is the only thing that is ever going to truly satisfy them. We’ve all gone to the cafeterias, potlucks, and family reunions where our eyes were bigger than our stomachs. We piled our plates with food and desert, gorging on what our eyes delighted. Moments later we find ourselves feeling over stuffed and miserable. Which raises some interesting questions: Do you eat more physical food than spiritual? What qualifies as spiritual food? and Is there some spiritual food that is actually bad for you?

We have an idiom in our culture that expresses a profound truth: What’s eating you? Which is another way of saying, What are you worried or concerned about? But taking into account our previous discussion we can use that expression as a way of asking, Are the desires of my senses actually devouring my life? Are my desires being fueled by my senses or by eternal things?