Beard vs Stone

Bread vs Stone
By Patricia Ang

I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never be hungry. He who believes in me never thirst. (John 6:35)

In loving relationships, people warn one another of the inevitable consequences of foolish behaviour. In unhealthy relationships, people threaten one another with punishment if they fail to live up to unreasonable demands.

Bread can be broken and shared with others. When we are bread, we share our gifts. We take time to help someone in need. We offer ourselves to serve, to love and to grow in His glory. At times, as we hurry about our own responsibilities, we become too busy to care about other people. We need to find time to be there for those who care about us.

As bread, we are soft, forgiving and compassionate. There is humility, service, forgiveness and growth. We are passionate about the things we do and we are people-centred. When we respect others and treat them with kindness..When we are peacemakers in tense situations..When we forgive others who have hurt us, we are bread for them.

As bread, we provide encouragement. In (1 John 3:18) it is mentioned what we are to do when we see others in need. He told us to have active compassion. Let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed. We have been instructed :”Be doers of the word, but not hearers only.” (James 1 : 22). When we see a need, it is good to talk about it, but we must also do something about it.
Make a difference today. Make a call, send a card, give a gift, offer a hand to help and smile. Love in deed is love indeed.

Are any of your relationships broken or estranged because of something you said or did? Ignoring love ones, misunderstanding good friends, gossiping about fellow colleagues in an organisation?

Have you been feeling hard and cold like a stone? When we are selfish and think of ourselves..When all we are interested in is taking advantage of others. When we are cold to others who could use our friendship, then we are a stone for others.

When we criticise, complain and gossip, we bring others down. When we are jealous, bitter and cold, we have no feelings, we are as hard as a stone. When we use hard thoughts, harsh words, and insensitive actions with those around us and treat them as our enemies, we are like a stone thrown through a beautiful stained glass window, shattering the lives around you. Like a stone we become stagnant for who we are. We refuse to let go of our pride. We become materialistic and selfish. We adopt the attitude – what’s in it for me.

We have a choice. We can be a stone or we can be a bread. Which have you been lately? Which one do you want to be?

We are unable to handle the world matters, yet we are able to make a difference with the people around us – the way, we treat our family member, friendship and community.
When Jesus was tempted by the devil in Matthew 4, who asked Him to turn stones to bread if he is the son of God, Jesus replied, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of god.”

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever, This bread is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51)