There is a story told in the Gospel of John about a time when Jesus fed a crowd of several thousand people with just a few loaves of bread and a couple of small fish. Amazingly, even after everyone had eaten their fill, there were twelve large baskets of leftovers.
The next morning, many of the people from the crowd Jesus had fed the day before came looking for him and eventually found him on the other side of the lake. Jesus knew they had not come back to listen to his teaching though, but were hoping to get another free meal. He said to them, “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. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you” (John 6:26-27, NIV).
What are you and I working for? What are we pursuing? Are we chasing after bread and fish, or are we seeking that which endures to eternal life?
The people asked Jesus, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” We might expect a long complicated answer from Jesus, giving a detailed list of religious duties and moral do’s and don’ts. Instead, he gave a very different answer. Jesus told them, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent [referring to himself]” (John 6:28-29, NIV).
Then Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (John 6:35, NIV).
Do you see what Jesus did there? The people are looking for bread. Jesus says not to work for bread that spoils, but for eternal bread. He say he, himself, is the eternal bread and one works for this bread by believing in him.