Bread That Does Not Satisfy

There are two ways to be an entrepreneur. The first way is to work from a place of self-reliance and striving, as Psalm 127:2 describes. “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” Psalm 127:2

Bread is what we are supposed to eat to sustain us. So the bread of anxious toil is when we believe the lie that OUR effort is sustaining us. And of course, if it’s our effort that sustains us, we can never rest, lest our lives come apart at the seams. We have to hold it all together. We have to keep all the plates spinning. It’s exhausting.

Are you as familiar with this bread as I am? Are you tempted to skip your Bible reading because you just have “so much to do today”? Do you work long hours, never feeling like you can do enough? Do you feel like you always need to be doing something productive? I do. Jesus gives us another kind of bread- “Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry.’” John 6:35

All of us are eaters. It isn’t a question of whether you will eat bread this week, but which bread you will be eating. We are all “hungerers” looking for sustenance.

There’s another verse in Scripture that talks about bread, and it comes to us from Isaiah 55:

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” Isaiah 55:2-3

The Bible is telling us here that there is a false bread. There’s something that promises to satisfy your cravings. You pay for it. And then it lets you down. That bread is anything we look for ultimate satisfaction in, other than Jesus Himself. The Bible talks about this dynamic a lot, actually. It’s called idolatry. We tend to have a mental image of idolatry as involving a golden calf or something. But it often doesn’t involve a statue we bow down to. Tim Keller explains it this way:

“An idol is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.” - Tim Keller

As entrepreneurs, we can easily fill in those blanks with business achievements, can’t we?

• “When I have a seven-figure business then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

• “When I’m seen as the go-to expert in my field, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”

• “When my products are sold in Target, then I’ll feel my life has meaning, then I’ll know I have value, then I’ll feel significant and secure.”
  

How do you fill in those blanks? What are the mile-markers of business success that you’re looking to for validation? If you’re like me, I didn’t want to admit those idols because I was afraid that God would take my business away. I was afraid that if I invited God into the messy idol factory of my heart, He would take away the good things I was putting in His place.

God broke down my walls slowly and lovingly and brought me to the place of surrender. He could have asked me to give up my business. He has every right to! But my fear was rooted in a fundamental lie about the character of my Savior. He isn’t looking for opportunities to take things away, He’s looking for opportunities to give more good gifts. He’s not waiting like an animal of prey to pounce on me for disobedience. He’s more like a parent who delights in sharing good things with their kids at every possible opportunity (and only hold back for the child’s good).

As my husband often says, “the garden of Eden was a thousand yesses and only one ‘no’.” Our selfish imaginations just can’t even begin to imagine the generosity of our Heavenly Father toward us.

“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32

When we make something an idol, it doesn’t necessarily mean that thing is bad. In fact, most of the time, the things we desire are good things.

Wanting a six or seven-figure business is a good desire. God created you to take dominion, to do excellent work, to multiply resources, and to create and build things! It’s a good desire. It just can’t be ultimate.

Wanting to be the expert in your field is a drive for excellence, and even the desire for validation and praise is a good desire, it’s just that our validation and praise comes from God, not from people.

Wanting your products to be sold in Target is a desire for widespread brand recognition, validation, and impact. It’s a good desire, it just can’t be ultimate.

I love how G.K Chesterton put it:

“Idolatry is when you worship what you should use, and use what you should worship.” - G.K. Chesterton

That’s such a good way to understand it. We worship the gifts God gives us instead of the Giver Himself, and then we treat him like a gift-dispenser, a genie to give us more of what we really want (which isn’t ultimately Him). Yikes. This is what our hearts do on auto-pilot.

We are desperately clinging to our dry crusts of anxious toil, the bread that does not satisfy, when Jesus is offering us the Bread of Life.

The bad news is that idols always let us down. They stab you in the back. They promise satisfaction but they can’t deliver. Jesus wants better for you, and He wants you to experience this in your business life, too.

*“These things… are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.” - C.S. Lewis

The good news is that Jesus is in the business of taking from us the idol of our own self-sufficiency, our anxious toil, to give us Himself, the bread that satisfies. If it were left to us to figure out how to loosen our grasp on our idols, we never would.

I’m so glad Jesus doesn’t leave me to figure out how to lay down my idols on my own. No, He patiently walks with us each step of the way. He takes away our idols so that He can give us ultimate satisfaction: Himself.

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6

In our business life, we need this reminder daily. Our sin, the flesh, and the devil are never at rest in seeking to get us to make God’s good gifts (like a 6 figure business) our ultimate desire. And the answer is NOT to stop desiring good things! The answer is to put on the armor of God each day and fight. Because He spreads a table before us in the midst of our enemies (Ps 23), and He bids us to come and delight ourselves in rich food (Is 55). He is the bread that satisfies, and we get to drink from the river of His delights (Ps 36). At His right hand are pleasures forevermore (Ps 16).

What are the good gifts you’re tempted to make ultimate? How can you put that desire in its rightful place? How can you feast on the completely satisfying Bread of Life today?

“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.”

Isaiah 55:2-3

Read more on the Bread of Anxious Toil here: The Bread of Anxious Toil