We can easily become obsessed with working for the “things” of this world. In John’s Gospel people were looking for Jesus because He had fed them the day before and they were hungry again. They were looking for food, literally. Jesus gently rebukes them, taking this as an opportunity to point out the real reason they should be seeking Him. The real reason is that He wants to provide the spiritual food of eternal life. What is the food Jesus wants us to seek? That’s a question we must let Him answer in our heart.
What do we want? What is our heart’s desire? If we’re honest and if we let ourselves face our desires, we’ll most likely find that we have some desires, or even many, that are not put in our heart by Christ. Recognizing what these desires are is the first step to discovering what the true food is that Jesus wants to give us.
Another thing we have to ask ourselves is this: “Am I seeking Jesus for the right reason?”
Anyone who knows me well also knows that when I was working, I spent a lot of time complaining that I was away from home for extended periods of time, and that I missed my wife and family very much. It wasn’t just because the food was better, or because I felt more pampered (although I was). When we’re sick, we seek a doctor for a cure. When a child is hurt, the child often runs to a parent for comfort. This is OK. We do the same. When we’re lost and confused (there’s a lot of that going on these days, isn’t there?), we often turn to God for answers and help. But, ideally, we’ll eventually seek God for more than just healing or comfort. We’ll ultimately seek God for the reason of love. We’ll seek Him simply because we love Him and want to love Him all the more. It’s also the reason I was always aching simply to get home when I was out of town.
When we can begin to seek out Jesus simply because we love Him and want to love Him more, we’re on the right road. And as we walk down that road, we find it’s a road of the utmost delight and fulfillment.
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