It's not just about the free pizza

S: John 6:26-27, 35

26Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

35Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

 O: Ever since I left the dorm half way through my undergraduate career and had to cook for myself, I had always been attracted to free food.

It was especially so when I was a grad student in the ’90 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign when the Computer Science graduate student leadership would arrange with tech companies to sponsor pizza Fridays – they would stand in front of the pizza and tell about their company and why we should work for them after graduation, then let us eat the pizza. I loved going to those – free pizza was always good 😊 though I planned to return to Malaysia after I got my Ph.D. and never planned to work for any of those companies.

There was even one company which turned out to be defence contractor, and someone asked, “Does this mean you have to be an American citizen to work for you?” They answer, “Yes, unfortunately, that’s the case.” And we looked around the room, and there was like only 1 or 2 Americans in the room, the rest of the grad students were foreign students like me🤣. 

So, yeah, I went to those free pizza days for the pizza, and was not really interested in the message they were sharing.

A: That’s what Jesus was saying about the crowd in John 6 following him around. Just as pizza filled my stomach temporarily, the people in John 6 were after bread that filled their stomachs, but not their hearts. Instead, we need to be eating the bread of life, and then we’ll never be hungry again.

Many of us came to Christ because we received comfort or healing. It’s awesome to receive God’s miracle. But temporal healing and even such miracles are only temporary – it’s like coming just for the free pizza, and not for the eternal life of living for Jesus forever, through thick and thin – no turning back, even when the going gets tough.

I need to have my mind transformed. I need to offer my body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. Then I will be living in God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will, not just for some ephemeral carnal benefit like free pizza.

P: Father, make my life a prayer to you. I wanna do what you want me to. No empty  words, and no white lies, no token prayers, no compromise. I wanna shine the light you gave through your Son you sent to save us from ourselves and our despair. It comforts me to know you’re really there. I wanna die and let you give your life to me so I might live and share the hope you gave to me – the love that sets me free! I wanna tell the world out there you’re not some fable or fairy tale that I’ve made up inside my head – you’re God the Son, you’ve risen from the dead! In Jesus’ name, Amen.

 

Trusting without seeing

S: John 4:43-54

O: An official came from Capernaum to Cana and begged Jesus to come to heal his son, who was near death. Capernaum was approximately a 6-hour walk from Cana. Instead of going with him, Jesus merely said, “Go, your son will live.” The man took Jesus at his word and departed.

It was about 1pm, and he could have gotten back before sundown if he rushed. But he didn’t rush and only got home the next day.

And the next day, while he was still on the way, his servants met him and informed him that his son was healed around 1pm, i.e. the time that Jesus told him “Go, your son will live.”

A: Sometimes God has already answered our prayer but we don’t see it yet. We need to trust God anyway.

P: Father, help me to trust You even when I don’t see the answer to my prayers yet. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Playing a supporting role

S: Ephesians 6:21-22

²¹ Tychicus, the dear brother and faithful servant in the Lord, will tell you everything, so that you also may know how I am and what I am doing. ²² I am sending him to you for this very purpose, that you may know how we are, and that he may encourage you.

O: Tychicus is one of those people who just gets a small mention in the Bible – in this case, 5 times. Each time, he’s mentioned in some supporting capacity for Paul, We don’t know a lot about him, but it’s clear that Paul trusted him to carry out the various tasks he had assigned to him.

There are many other people like this. We can’t all be a Billy Graham or Daniel Ho or even a local church pastor, but we can be faithfully serving Jesus out of the limelight. And at the end of it all, we’ll still hear Jesus saying “Welcome, good and faithful servant” even if few others know our name.

A: I need to be serving the Lord in whatever opportunity he’s given me.

P: Father, help me to be faithful to you and to serve you, whether in little or much. In Jesus’ name, amen.

 

Submit to one another - Love and respect

S: Ephesians 5:21-33

21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22 Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24 Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28 In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— 30 for we are members of his body. 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32 This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33 However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. 

O: Verse 21 calls for mutual submission among believers out of reverence for Christ. Some people see verse 21 as a general instruction to all Christians, and believe verse 22 begins a new section specifically for wives, who are called to submit to their husbands. In this view, mutual submission is practiced generally among believers, but within marriage, the wife’s role is uniquely to submit, while the husband's role is to lead in love.

Others understand verse 21 as introducing the entire section on household relationships, including wives and husbands, parents and children, masters and slaves. In this interpretation, all relationships described are shaped by the principle of mutual submission — a Christlike posture of humility and service — which is also taught in Philippians 2.

Greek text seems to support this second view. The word “submit” (ὑποτάσσω) doesn’t appear in verse 22; it’s carried over from verse 21. The Greek literally reads, “Wives to your own husbands as to the Lord.” This grammatical feature, called ellipsis, shows that verse 22 depends on verse 21 for its verb and meaning. So the whole section seems to flow from the opening call to "submit to one another out of reverence for Christ."

Paul goes on to describe a high and sacrificial calling for husbands—to love their wives as Christ loved the church, laying down his life for her. This love is not about dominance but deep, self-giving care. Likewise, the wife’s call to respect her husband is not passive but relational — reflecting the same Christlike spirit of humility and mutuality.

Verse 33 brings this together in a way that resonates with real-world tendencies: men often need to be reminded to love deeply and sacrificially, while women may need encouragement to express respect in ways that build up. Some modern relationship writers, like Dr. Emerson Eggerichs in Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires; The Respect He Desperately Needs, note this pattern as common in marriages today.

A: This passage challenges me to love selflessly, beginning with my own household. As a husband and father, I’m reminded that true love is sacrificial — not just emotional or romantic, but practical, humble, and costly. It means submitting my own preferences and comfort to the needs of my wife and children.

It also extends beyond the home. The call to submit to others out of reverence for Christ shapes how I treat coworkers, students, friends, and even strangers. As Philippians 2:3–4 puts it: “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves… look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.”

That’s hard — but it’s the shape of Christlike love.

P:Father, help me to love like Jesus. Teach me to submit my own selfishness and pride so I can truly care for the people around me — especially those closest to me. Make me more like Christ in the way I serve, lead, and love. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Note: I wrote the original text then had ChatGPT suggests improvements for clarity and flow.