Your bread and butter

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” John 6:51a

The idiom your bread and butter refers to the primary source of your income to sustain the basic needs for life. This is believed to originate from the old country when peasants could only afford to purchase soup and on rare occasions they would splurge on bread also.

I love bread of any kind and there’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread coming from the oven. Once I had this “ starter” I kept in the refrigerator, it was like having a pet I had to take care of. I had to feed it and after it grew I could make it into bread or share it.

Before birth we never experience hunger, our needs are constantly met as we’re perfectly formed in our mother’s womb. But the minute we’re born, our food source is cut off and we have to seek subtanance elsewhere. We develop a hunger which has to be satisfied to sustain life.

When Jesus preached to the crowds, he was constantly aware of the spiritual needs of the people that followed him. They were starving to hear the good news he taught and see for themselves the miracles performed for the sick.

Jesus was also aware of physical needs because he knew the crowd gathered on the shore of the Sea of Galilee were hungry. Miraculously over 5,000 people were fed with only 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. Jesus explains he’s the “bread of life”, the spiritual food required which sustains us for eternity. He refers to himself in John 6:51, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;...”.

As humans we have to eat to stay alive, it’s one of the basic necessities. But in Matthew 4:4, Jesus reminds us, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ God created us with a void in our spirits that have to be filled, just like our stomachs. We’ve been given free will to choose to follow the word of God and seek his truth to fill the void, or we can be filled with the things of this world.

We all have to have a sustainable income to provide us with food and shelter. Knowing where our bread and butter comes from causes us to put extra care into keeping that source viable. It’s just as important to feed our spirits through prayers, reading the scripture and worship in order to nurture a relationship with Jesus, knowing he’s our spiritual “bread and butter.”