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Msg #565 Wednesday, July 15, 2009
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Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (Jn 4:34)
So what do you want to eat today?
This is a question that we will all handle in one form or another…in fact, several times today. Questions of what to cook or where to eat out. If we eat out…what do we want off the menu. This is one of those questions that we deal with every single day…what do you want to eat?
It is exactly in such an environment that Jesus takes this common question and transforms it into a marvelous spiritual truth. His disciples had returned from the nearby city and brought Him some food. Jesus says to them:
“I have food to eat of which you do not know.” (Jn 4:32)
This puzzled the disciples, wondering how or where He ate from. In response Jesus again shares this amazing consideration:
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (Jn 4:34)
So what is Jesus sharing with them and us about “food”? Well, the answer to that is probably far deeper than these quick considerations, yet we can glean some wonderful truths right off the surface. Food has at least two main things that will occupy you and I today – it strengthens us and it satisfies us.
Food strengthens us.
Our physical body is so designed that it needs constant nourishment to thrive. Thus one of the reasons you eat is to have strength for today. Now apply this to doing God’s will. Did you know realize that if you neglect to do God’s will today, it is like starving your spiritual body? Doing God’s will is not meant to be an optional part of the Christian life. Like physical food to our physical body, doing God’s will nourishes us and strengthens us. I wonder if you would take a moment and ponder that, and look at your life to see the reality of this. Perhaps it was witnessing to someone that God put before you, or teaching a Bible study or serving in some capacity. When you did this for God, did you not discover a spiritual boost, a strengthening, a nourishing? I know for me, it is so. Doing God’s will nourishes me each and every time.
Sadly, in today’s commonly lived Christian life, so many are malnourished. Not to make light of physical plights, but we have probably all seen pictures of people and children in other nations who are starving physically. Their emancipated bodies rightly pull our heart strings and raise our grief for them. Yet, apply that for a moment. The truth is, in a spiritual way – so many Christians are starving, living in emancipated spiritual bodies because they have not discovered what Jesus shares with us here – that doing God’s will is our food!
Food satisfies us.
God has so engineered our bodies and world for this pleasure. He created taste buds that can sample and enjoy so many tastes. Then, He created a huge variety of flavors and tastes in His creation for us to enjoy. Thus, when we sit down to eat a meal, so often we find ourselves enjoying the taste, delighting in it. When we finished there is a feeling of satisfaction that words cannot capture, but it is good.
Consider for a moment, how this daily pleasure of eating can picture for us doing God’s will. When we really do what God has for us, it is not a burden nor a bummer…it is a pleasure. Like chewing some of our favorite foods and delighting in them as they pass over our taste buds, so doing God’s will is meant to be a pleasure. Doing God’s will is meant to create in us a satisfaction that can be likened to sitting at a table having supped on a marvelous meal…and feeling satisfied.
Is this not an incredible analogy that Jesus gives us?
I wonder if you have discovered its reality in your life? I wonder if today, and in upcoming days, as you partake of physical food to strengthen and satisfy your body, if God would not be drawing you deeper…to see a greater strengthening and satisfaction that can only be found in doing God’s will?
“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work. (Jn 4:34)
Jim
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