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?
