Jesus answered them, &8220;Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for food that endures for eternal life. &045; John 6

From Adam and Eve in the garden, to the Israelites in the desert or to Jesus sitting down at Passover with his disciples, the story of the Bible can almost be summarized by, &8220;It&8217;s all about food.&8221;

Yet it actually isn&8217;t all about food. The ancient world knew hunger and famine. Food was an obsession by its absence. Today, there is food everywhere we turn, yet we crave contentment as no people before, perhaps. Food simply never delivers what it offers.

Jesus challenges the crowd when they show up trying to look religious while angling to get Jesus to go to work for them, meeting their needs, meeting their cravings.

That&8217;s the problem with food, with drugs, with money, with sex, with alcohol, with reputation. When we taste them, rather than bringing contentment, closer, they push it further away from us.

It&8217;s life that lasts forever that we really need to want, Jesus says. Our real hunger is the search of love, for peace of mind, for courage. Those are the things we want.

Robert Montgomery is the preaching minister of Cahaba Valley Church