22 Jan, 2009
The Hidden Restaurant
My friend Sean invited me to lunch in midtown Manhattan. He said we were going to place that had great burgers and fries. I was hungry and ready to go.
We walked past all the fast food chain restaurants and into a hotel. We walked past all the hotel restaurants and into a back hallway. At the end of the hallway we pulled back a black curtain and saw 10 tables and a counter around an open kitchen packed with customers. On the grill huge burgers were sizzling. Once the aroma of those burgers hit my nose I was ready to order.
When my friend and I sat down with our fully loaded burger and a basket of fries I just had to ask him, “How did you find this place? I didn’t see any signs on our way here.”
Sean just smiled and said, “Once you’ve been here, you never forget where it is.”
He was right. As I ate my lunch I realized there were probably a 1000 people within 100 yards of this restaurant who didn’t even know it existed. Thanks to Sean now I knew.
Are you hungry for a good burger?
Follow me----I know a great place.
thanks to Jack Crabtree of Long Island YFC for today's DAILYBIDE
Who wants a good burger?
33For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. 34"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread." 35Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."
Jesus is telling people who he really is using the analogy of bread. The people have been asking him questions to find out if he truly is God’s Son on earth in a human body. He got their attention when performed a miracle providing food for a massive crowd of people.
When Jesus tried to tell them he could offer them more than food to fill their stomachs they told him the food from heaven they knew about was the manna God gave to the Israelites when they were wandering in the desert.
Jesus said he was the new gift from God to them. He was the living bread that would nourish and satisfy their souls. Jesus offered himself and his message to them but most of them walked away. They wanted bread for sandwiches, not God’s truth and love in their lives.
It’s like Jesus offered to take them to a new place to eat that would satisfy their deepest desires but they resisted change choosing to keep eating (and believing) what they already had.
When we come to know Jesus it is like we found a new place to eat where we get the best food that satisfies us like nothing else. Are you open to change?
We often say we want change but change can scare us. We like the security of staying where we are. Walking with Jesus is full of changes.
It’s tempting to live in the past even as a Christian. Whatever God did in us or for us a year ago is what we are still focused on. It’s easy to develop an expectation that God will do for us today exactly what he did in the past, but Jesus often wants to take us to a new place in our daily walk with him. Are you willing to go with him even if you don’t know your destination or if it is a big change in what you do?
You can’t grow without letting God change you both outside and inside. Let Jesus lead you to a new place in you relationship with him.
- In the same way I didn’t know that good burger restaurant existed, so many people in your life don’t even know Jesus is real. Start looking for ways today to show them Jesus can be alive in them.
- To what youth activity or meeting could you take a friend this week so they could start getting an appetite for God?
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