Verse of the day: John 4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.”
What does our Christian life look
like? Did we call on Jesus, and accept His gift of eternal life, simply to sit
around do nothing for the furtherance of the Gospel? Did we become Christians just
to live a “good” life here, and disregard the life to come? Life as a Christian
is not about just about getting by here on earth, on our way to Heaven. It is
about doing what the Lord has left us here for…to preach the Gospel to every
creature (Mk 16:15), leading others to Him, and glorifying Him with our lives. In
this chapter, Jesus had been dealing with the Samaritan woman, and others were
coming to see Him as a result of her testimony. When the disciples came to
Jesus, and saw Him talking with the woman, they wondered why He was talking
with her, as Jews had nothing to do with Samaritans. After her departure, their
only concern was that Jesus has something to eat. The response He gave them
teaches us a lot about what our focus should be each and every day. This
response is an explanation of what he said to them in verse 32, “I have meat to
eat that you know not of.” What does Jesus’ response to them say to us today?
Like Christ, our main goal in life should be to fulfill God’s will and purpose
for our time here on earth. He saw this as priority, even above and beyond the
urge to carry out those things which are natural for us to do as human beings. God
will sometimes give us opportunities to serve Him by witnessing, or doing some
good for someone, at some of the most inconvenient times. It could interrupt
our meal time, or come up during a time when we are weary, tired, and ready to
take a nap. We might have plans that would need to be changed in order for us to
be a blessing to someone in need. Every opportunity is an opportunity to let
Jesus shine before those He leads us to. In John 6:38, Jesus said, “For I came
down from Heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent Me.” Not
only was Jesus focused on carrying out the Father’s will, but He was also focused
on completing the mission. The Apostle Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith.” Sadly, as born again believers, we often
put greater urgency, and importance, on things that have no eternal value. We
make our plans more important than what God has for us to accomplish here on
earth. We often lose sight of what is most important in the life of a believer.
The bottom line is that we must strive, each day, to lay our heads on our pillows
at night and be able to say, “I did my best to live out God’s will for my life
today.” “I helped someone who needed help.” “I made an effort to share the
Gospel with someone, or others, today.” “I put my plans aside today to do what
I knew God wanted me to do.” “I allowed Jesus to shine in my life today with my
attitude, words, and deeds, in order to seek an opportunity to lead someone to
the Lord.” So, I ask again, “What does our Christian life look like today? Is
God’s will and purpose for my life meat to eat that is more satisfying than
anything else that me, or the world, would say is a priority?” “Will I be
willing to skip a meal or two, skip a nap, override my feelings of hunger and
fatigue to carry out an assignment I know is coming from God?” Only we,
personally, know what that true answer is.
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