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The Price of Bread

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The German hyperinflation of 1923 remains the most extreme case of currency collapse in modern history. At its peak in November 1923, prices were doubling every 3.7 days. A loaf of bread that cost 250 marks in January 1923 cost 200 billion marks by November. Workers were paid twice daily because their morning wages would be worthless by afternoon. In 1923, a German housewife went grocery shopping with a wheelbarrow full of money to buy a single loaf of bread. By the end of that day, the same wheelbarrow of cash couldn’t buy a postage stamp. The Weimar Republic’s hyperinflation was so extreme that prices doubled every few days, children played with bundles of worthless banknotes, and people burned money to heat their homes because it was cheaper than buying firewood.

John 6:5 states: Jesus looked up then, and seeing that a vast multitude was coming toward Him, He said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread, so that all these people may eat? Today is Day 26 of Counting the Omer, or measuring the grain. Jesus’ question is still as true and timeless today as it was when He uttered this question, Where are we to buy bread….?  What’s telling about His question is the verse which follows it: But He said this to prove (test) him, for He well knew what He was about to do…. (John 6:6) Is where we buy our “bread” the most important spiritual test of life? Jesus is the “Bread of Life.” His Word is “Bread.” What price are we paying to receive His Bread? This leads to other questions. Do I have enough “Bread” to feed myself? Do I have enough “Bread” to feed others. Over the years I have felt guilty when people have remarked, “I am leaving the church because I am not being fed.” That is until I began to examine what the comment really meant. Human opinions are as varied as the sand on the shore. Some people’s opinions regarding “spiritual food” is that teaching is their spiritual food, while others find preaching to be spiritually nourishing. Others reject both believing that practical application to life’s issues is the real spiritual food. Other’s look at spiritual food as that which  encourages them, and makes them feel good. Others would say good illustrations, or inspiring video clips. Others prefer food that involves any and all things intellectual. While others want to laugh making their spiritual food humor or jokes. Where can one man get all this “food” to satisfy all these varying opinions? Nowhere human. The only Person Who can truly give the Bread that we need, and which satisfies, is Jesus – the Bread of Life. The Prophet Isaiah sought to point the people of Israel in the right direction when he exhorted them:  Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your earnings for what does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness [the profuseness of spiritual joy]. (Isa. 55:2) According to Isaiah how do we get this bread? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness…Three things: Hearken diligently to the Lord (His Spirit and His Word); Eat what is good (spiritually, biblically); let your soul delight itself in what truly brings everlasting joy. Are you making His Bread count? What do you spend the majority of your time and money on? From Jesus’ perspective do you have enough bread to feed you spiritually? In the long run what price are we paying to eat the bread of our opinions? What price are we paying to not eat the Bread of Life – Jesus and the Word of God?

Two Minds?

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1 Corinthians 2:16 For who has known or understood the mind (the counsels and purposes) of the Lord so as to guide and instruct Him and give Him knowledge? But we have the mind of Christ (the Messiah) and do hold the thoughts (feelings and purposes) of His heart.

This is a profound promise. It’s truly intriguing when you compare 1 Corinthians 2:16 with Romans 12:2. Romans 12:2 states: Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude],….

Since we have the Mind of Jesus according to the promise of 1 Corinthians 2 why do we need to renew our minds, or our thought processes? How can a born-again, follower of Jesus have the perfect, untainted mind of Jesus and have a mind that needs to be transformed (metamorphosised), and renewed to the Mind of Christ? James 1:8 echoes this: [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything…To make matters worse the Apostle Paul states: Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever].7 [That is] because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God’s Law; indeed it cannot. In this passage in Romans 8:6-7 Paul states that not only do we have the Mind of Christ, we have the Mind of the Holy Spirit. In fact verse seven states in some translations that the mind of the flesh or soul is at enmity with God. It’s at war with God, hostile toward God, and is His enemy.

How can this be? According to the Bible you can deduce we are triune in similar ways the Godhead is Triune. We consist of body, soul, and spirit. Now I can’t speak for you but my experience has shown that even after I know I have been born-again, and have a personal relationship with the Godhead, I have done, and said things that were not Christ-like. How can this be? I have Jesus living in me. One day my body is going to die. Does that mean Jesus dies with my body or is there a more powerful explanation to the paradox? I have experienced some pretty demonic, dark, and evil thoughts in my mind and at times those thoughts seem to override anything I know in Scripture, and seemingly even Jesus Himself. How can this be since Jesus lives in me? Other questions arise: How can one be a born-again follower of Jesus and still be sick: mentally, emotionally, spiritually or physically? The answer is simple when you include the trichotomy of man: body, soul and spirit. My spirit possesses the Mind of Christ; it is sanctified, saintly, and holy; its seated in heavenly places with Jesus; it is not guilty, washed in the Blood of Jesus; brought to life through Jesus. BUT my soul fights against the things of God; houses unclean things; needs the transforming power of the Spirit and the Word. The mind of my soul needs to come into conformity to the Spirit and Word of God. But not the mind of my spirit.

So what is the solution to this paradox? 1 Corinthians 2:2 For I resolved to know nothing (to be acquainted with nothing, to make a display of the knowledge of nothing, and to be conscious of nothing) among you except Jesus Christ (the Messiah) and Him crucified. To know Jesus and Him crucified is more than knowing the facts of Jesus’ Crucifixion. It is to know the crucified life Jesus was born into and lived every day of His human existence. To know this aspect of Jesus is to seek to live it. In other words to be crucified with Jesus; or to pick up your cross daily and live the crucified life with Him. To embrace the Truths of His Word by putting them into practice and obeying them – all of them. Quite simply if you were to disregard the “Thou Shalt Not’s” and make your focus the “Thou Shalts” you will have plenty of opportunities to die with Jesus, and see that soulish, rebellious mind submit to the Mind of Jesus. The good news? Resurrection awaits each death and you never out give God. You reap what you sow into: soul or spirit. You become more fully alive spiritually to Jesus, Who has lived, and in some respects presently living the crucified life. (He is still long-suffering for us in prayer)