"[Jesus said,] Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." - John 6:27
Happy Monday!
It's time for us to get back at it. Back to the salt mines. Or the grindstone. Or makin' some dough. Or however you describe it.
But let's not forget what we're really doing here.
Money, like happiness, is never our goal with our work or our studies in school. The goal of our work or our studies, Jesus says, is "the food that endures to eternal life". And in John 17:3, Jesus tells us that eternal life is knowing the One True God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
In other words, no matter what anybody else says, our work and our studies have the ultimate goal of relationships: with God, with self, with family, with friends. This is what's meant in Proverbs 22:1 where we hear, "A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold." The paycheck or being happy at our job or our school is a byproduct of working and studying for the right reasons.
It's a faith proposition. It means we go to work and school trusting and having faith that if Jesus says that our focus and goal needs to be relationships and teamwork and the glory of God, well, then we'll trust him and have faith in him so that we'll make relationships and teamwork and God's glory our focus and goal. And we'll trust that Jesus will take care of the money and the happiness parts. That's why Jesus says "which the Son of Man will give to you" in today's verse. He gives us both our true goal, and then he gives us the grades and money and happiness as a byproduct of keeping the main thing as the main thing!
Nowhere is this better illustrated than in Acts 3:6 where Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
Peter knew that the real power and the real ability to provide for our loved ones and make a living was not in money, gold, or silver, but instead the real power for daily provision lies in the name of Jesus Christ through whom we know the promises and ultimate provision of the Living God!
So, let's remind the kids as we get them to school, and may God remind us big folks too. The reason we're about to get after it is to glorify God who provides.
Praise God!
(For an archive of "Day of Praise", please visit my daughter Calley's website at http://dayofpraisepc.blogspot.com/?m=1)
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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