What does an MRE give you? Well, it gives you a longing for home-cooked meals. But it also gives you sustenance until your tummy growls at you, and you are reminded that you need to eat again. But what do we eat when our souls and our hearts growl, reminding us of this aching hole that longs to be filled with the bread of forgiveness for that guilt?

Well, sometimes we fill it with foods that are unhealthy. When we feel guilty, we go to the spiritual grocery store, and sometimes we look at this aisle, and we sometimes punish our bodies by just working really, really hard in the gym. Or maybe we go to the other side of the grocery aisle, and we overindulge in substances, or we binge on inappropriate videos or engage in non-committed physical relationships—anything and everything that might help us forget about the guilt. And it works, for a little bit. But it never really satisfies that guilt, never fills that God-sized hole in our hearts and our minds and our souls.

So, my friends, I invite you to come and eat and drink
of Jesus. When your heart and your conscience growl with hunger for forgiveness, let an MRE remind you of the only food that gives life and forgiveness and spiritual health.

Here’s what Jesus says in John chapter 6: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. . . . I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die” (verses 35,48-50).

Manna was that miraculous food that the Lord in his grace and mercy provided for the people of Israel for 40 years for two million people, but they all died. Jesus promises bread from heaven. But when we eat this bread—and he’s talking about his words and promises—we receive forgiveness of our sins. We receive pardon for our guilt.

So for all of that guilt that you feel, and the ways that you’ve tried to deal with it, go to the cross and see that Jesus is your guilt, and you are his innocence. He gives you a new life, free from guilt, right now. He promises it, just for you.

So how might you continue to eat this bread? Attend worship on Sunday mornings. Do it regularly. Make it your habit, whether that’s in person, or if you’re far away from your home church, then online. Receive your Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness and pardon of your guilt. Read the Scriptures. Engage in daily devotional time, which you’re doing right now.

Invite a battle buddy to be just that for you—a battle buddy. Somebody to hold you accountable, and you hold them accountable to be faithful in eating this bread from heaven. Put a plan down on a calendar, but eat and drink with Jesus today and every day. Because you and I are going to feel guilty at times in our life, and we’re going to get hungry, and we’re going to get thirsty. But let Jesus’ words of forgiveness and pardon in peace truly satisfy that hunger today and every day.

Prayer:
Gracious Father, your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant that Christ, the Bread of Life, may live in us and we in him. Today on August 16th we celebrate National Airborne Day, a day to honor the U.S. Airborne Forces. Lord Jesus, you are present everywhere, even in the sky as paratroopers train to envelop the enemy from above. Send your holy angels to keep them safe in training and in combat missions. Keep them brave and courageous so that by their dedication and fearless service our enemies might be destroyed, and we may live in peace. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.