Jesus: The Bread of Life

Croutons: love them or hate them, they’re the small, unassuming salad sidekick perched atop our lettuce leaves, often served at restaurants or alongside a soup selection.

Despite their size, they pack a powerful crunch, adding variety and texture to a dish. In fact, National Crouton Day, which occurs in May, is entirely dedicated to celebrating the versatility and variety of the little toppings.

While it’s true that croutons are a type of bread, they’re far from their original form. While once part of a loaf of bread, they’ve since been cut, seasoned, and baked until they have a crispy texture and a tough crust.

But what if Christians can also become like croutons?

Yep, you read that right. As believers, we can become spiritually dry and form a hard “external crust” if we’ve been disconnected from the true bread of life: Jesus. When we reach out to other sources for nourishment or cut off the hurting parts of our hearts, we end up distracted and discouraged.

As believers, it’s awfully hard to find our breakthrough if we’re already burned out from being “fried and seasoned” with the hardships of life.

The life of Jesus

Don’t give up hope: we’ve all been there. Whether you’ve built up emotional walls out of self-preservation or self-condemnation, or you’re just plain tired, God understands.

The life of Jesus is the ultimate example of how to live fully loved, refreshed, and alive.

Disillusions and disappointments have a way of creeping into our wilderness moments. Thankfully, we have a Savior who sympathizes with our struggles [Hebrews 4:15]. He isn’t sitting back watching our life, shaking His head in disapproval wondering “Why don’t they just get it together already? Why did they stop serving?” Instead, He’s a God who walks with us through the wilderness.

Jesus encountered His own wilderness moments. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus faced a 40-day, 40-night period with temptation. In fact, “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.’ Jesus answered, ‘It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God;” [Matthew 4:3-4].

John 6:35

The enemy tempted Jesus with physical nourishment after a long period with hunger, and Jesus put him in his place by quoting Scripture. Striking at the heart of the enemy’s schemes, here’s what the enemy didn’t know:

Jesus already is the source of nourishment itself as the bread of life.

Here’s what the enemy hates:

We have access to the same nourishment today.

Every one of us has likely witnessed the “crouton Christian” in real life:

• They’re the ones staying late to clean up after the worship night with a bit of a scowl.
• They’re the ones who made plenty of pies for the church potluck but look like they accidentally sipped a bit of prune juice on the drive over.
• They’re the ones plastering on a smile after facing another slip-up.
• They’re the believers burned out, scraping by with just enough spiritual leftovers to get through another day.

They’re in the mirror staring back at us.

Here’s the good news: we can be real and raw as we walk through the process of redemption. Our hard “external crust” can soften when we realize that we don’t have to muster up enough courage to nourish our own souls.

Jesus came to be our nourishment—our bread of life—so we wouldn’t have to turn into “crouton Christians.”

He doesn’t find it difficult when you draw from Him. What’s difficult is for us to stop striving or stifling the hurts in our hearts from a place of spiritual stagnation and self-preservation. However, when we stay still long enough for His strength to overtake our tough exteriors, when we’re brave enough to soften, He is faithful to refresh and renew our souls.

His offer always stands.