Lenten Devotion: Receive Freely Without Doubting (John 6: 41-51)
Day 11 – 17 Mar 2025
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:51
When Jesus pronounced good news and expressed the Father’s desire for all to come to Him and have eternal life, the first reaction of the Jews was not to rejoice, but to critique and doubt. It reminds me that sometimes we rely too much on our own human wisdom and logic to reason things that we disallow ourselves from accepting what doesn’t make sense.
In such incomprehensible situations, we often ask ‘Why?’ and deny ourselves from fully experiencing the joy and freedom that God wants to give us. Someone once shared this analogy with me: It is like being offered a free lunch. If you believe the lunch is free, you can freely enjoy your meal with no qualms at all! But if you can’t believe that free lunches exist, then you would end up spending more time asking why, ridding yourself of joy by constantly being skeptical and in the end, not accept this free lunch. What a waste!
When God calls us to believe and trust in Him, He doesn’t want us to have a skeptical mind to nitpick each detail that does not seem to make sense because that only takes away our freedom to experience God’s goodness.
I have recently extended forgiveness to a loved one and yet this person was unable to believe or receive my forgiveness. Not only did the rejection hurt but it was the fact that this person could not believe me that hurt me the most. This made me reflect and put myself in God’s shoes – that when God offers us forgiveness and other good things, it hurts him when we don’t believe in His love and in His kindness.
Jesus calls us to believe in Him – the Bread of Life. Life can be so full and beautiful when we draw strength from the right source and what more, a source that loves us. God is good and His gifts are good. Let us receive Him with gladness, not over-complicating matters in our human minds but simply experiencing the love, joy and peace that He wants to give us today.
Angelina Lim🙏✝