Keep Coming

So...ADK beat me by about two hours on most of what I was going to write about. It's going to be similar. :)

The thing that keeps jumping out at me throughout this book is when DJ brings up the present tense of the verbs that Jesus uses when he speaks. It first came up in chapter 2, where Jesus keeps baptizing, keeps filling, etc; and again in this chapter when Jesus calls us to keep coming and keep believing. I love how ADK phrased it, it's a call to relationship. It's a reminder that while the One Who Baptizes will keep filling, we have to keep coming to the Bread of Life as well. "When we find ourselves empty and hungering too much for the bread that perishes, it likely means we have fallen out of the habit of the 'keep coming.' Keep coming. Keep believing. Every day." (63)

I also (like Reid and ADK have already mentioned) loved when DJ said, "we are so gloriously constituted that only a Person can meet the longings and craving of our souls." (55) We can't be filled with "stuff." Whether that stuff is earthly food, good grades, acceptance from friends or family, praises from others, etc. it will never fill us. I find that from my own experiences, I tend to believe that those things actually are filling me, thus leading me to think that I don't need to "keep going" to the Lord to truly be filled. And that just ends up leaving me more empty than I started.

When I finally hear Jesus beckoning me back to himself, he's saying "Take, eat, this is My body given for you. Come. This is the Bread that comes out of heaven and gives life to [you]."

Katy, keep coming. Keep taking. Keep eating. You cannot make it without Me. Keep letting me be the only Person who can and will meet the longings and cravings of your soul. I am the Bread of Life. Keep coming, and I will give you life.