“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work…” ~John 4:34 (NIV)
Have you ever skipped lunch? Have you ever kept working straight on through because you were getting a lot done and you didn’t want to lose your momentum or because you could see a different stopping point that was a little farther away than what a normal day would call for? Did it hurt you or help you to keep going? Most would conclude that the finish line can outrank the hunger pains any day of the week. That fulfilling the mission brought more enjoyment and satisfaction than the hamburger or tacos would because…guess what…filling your stomach only brings satisfaction until the next meal is needed. Our bellies are going to grumble incessantly multiple times a day until we go home to be with the Lord. Jesus made it a point to differentiate physical food and spiritual food with His disciples and He is still doing it with those who want to be discipled by Him today. Those who want a deeper life, with more meaning. Those who aren’t just into fulfilling every whim and seeking out every joy they can create or muster up for themselves. Those who want to experience true and lasting pleasure, in this world and in the world to come. Our life experiences are just that…life experiences. We can eat, drink, play, shop, work, and vacation ourselves sick looking for the one thing that will bring true and lasting pleasure and that one thing is loving God and loving others. It’s resting in God while you are smack dab in the middle of doing His will. True and lasting pleasure is found in loving service and in giving of your resources: your money, your time, your energy! Jesus found his nourishment and sustenance in doing the will of the Father, have you?
I admit that it doesn’t sound glamorous at first but that is only because we need a little reprogramming. We don’t always see changing diapers and patiently sitting with the elderly as they share their life stories as a joy tank filler, but they can be. We just need a little reprogramming. Have you ever asked the Lord to help you to enjoy the things that He wants to see you doing, the days tasks and opportunities that bring Him the most glory? It’s a game changer! God wants us to learn to enjoy every process. Every single investment of ourselves. He wants us to come to realize that our ultimate enjoyment is found in Him alone. In being with Him every minute and seeking to do His will every minute. That’s exactly what Jesus was talking about when He told us He got His fulfillment from doing the will of the Father and finishing His work. Jesus goes on to say in John 4:35-38 “Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.” (NIV) God has preplanned opportunities in your day to harvest where He planted, to harvest where He has used others to plow and sow and tend in the hearts of every person you meet. We are all a work in progress and God is working with and through as many that will let Him to bring hope and help and healing and restoration to those who have lost their way along the way and to those who haven’t even found the true way to lasting pleasure. Go show somebody today how much you love to dine on doing the will of God. Go show them somebody they would never believe could exist. Somebody oozing with the character of God. Be somebody that personifies the fruit of the Spirit, somebody who exemplifies the character of the great I AM who is living on the inside of them! Invest it all, your money, your time, your energy…Every single resource God has put in you and in your hands. Get addicted to giving it all and God Himself will support your habit!
For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give—large or small—will be used to measure what is given back to you. ~Luke 6:38 (TLB)
How has God supported your habit of giving?
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