What do you want me to do?

“Why are you looking for me? Is it because you saw miraculous signs? The truth is, you are looking for me because you ate the bread and were satisfied. But earthly food spoils and ruins. So don’t work to get that kind of food. But work to get the food that stays good and gives you eternal life. The Son of Man will give you that food. He is the only one qualified by God the Father to give it to you.” The people asked Jesus, “What does God want us to do?” Jesus answered, “The work God wants you to do is this: to believe in the one he sent.” (John 6:26-29)

Some might be impressed with the miracles of Jesus, but others are drawn because of a curiosity that might just stem a bit deeper within their spirit. The miracles are always great, but to expect miracles every single day is unrealistic. Jesus makes things quite practical for these followers - believe in the one who sent me. The concern over earthly things might consume their thoughts, but this is not God's plan for any of us.

The work God wants us to do - believe in him. The world tries to get us to believe in things - in what we can achieve or gain because of our hard work, schemes, or just plain good luck. Yes, we need food and clothing, but Jesus reminded his disciples if they trust in him above all else, all their needs would be met by his Father in heaven (Matthew 6:31-33). Philippians 4:19 reminds us, "My God will use his glorious riches to give you everything you need. He will do this through Christ Jesus." Life is more than us just 'doing stuff' to 'get stuff'. It is about trusting in the one who supplies all our needs.

Earthly things spoil and are ruined by time, normal wear and tear. We must guard our hearts against the pursuit of things above our pursuit of God's character being worked out in our lives. If we really want to 'put our hand to the plow', we should do it in our quiet time with Jesus. We can gain more in a few minutes with him, attention undivided and heart attuned to hear his voice, than we can in any amount of time we spend in our pursuit of worldly wealth or 'gains'. 

It is always a good thing to ask, "What does want me to do?" If we want to walk within his will and be in tune with his leadership in our lives, this is the place we begin. To be truthful here, asking this question each day would not be wrong. In fact, it might just set the tone for our days just a bit differently. We might just set aside some of our 'agenda' items and take on some new ones as he leads. Just sayin!

Not ours, but his

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Are you challenged in the area of your thoughts? Things you'd like to forget just keep resurfacing. Things you need desperately to remember keep slipping away. Things you never thought you'd ever be mulling over plaguing you time and time again. This is a very real battle - our thought life can be a bit of a muddle at times, especially in times of stress, fatigue, or boredom. If your thoughts were to be displayed on a big screen, what would people see? Anxiety, depression, hurt feelings, or fear of the unknown? Maybe a lability of faith - trusting God fully one day, then venturing into the areas of taking things on yourself the next? God's thoughts are higher than our thoughts. Rather than struggling repeatedly with our thought life, it would be wiser to ask God to help us to clear away the junk in our thought life, cement our focus, and assure the 'cleanliness' of our thoughts?

God's thoughts are higher... That means when our thoughts drift into doubt, we can ask him for assurance. Does that mean we get an instant infusion of 'super-faith'? Sometimes God takes us to scripture and builds our faith through the reading and hearing of the Word of God. At others, he speaks assurance into our spirit and we just know all will be well. Regardless of how God 'changes' our thought pattern, he is always faithful to help us see things in a fresh light - perhaps a little bit closer to how he sees them. If we don't ask for the help we need, we will always see things 'far below' how God sees them.

God's ways are beyond our imagining... Perhaps we 'limit' God by the way we interpret what we see and feel. If we were to begin to ask God to expand our vision, might we see things a bit differently? Circumstances might seem a bit overwhelming until we ask God to show us how he sees the bigger picture. We may not get all the 'details' we would like, but he begins to help us see things 'in perspective' - not human perspective, but divine. We still won't have all the details, but we will certainly begin to trust him with the ones we don't see! Just sayin!

Hello! It is me again! May I come in?

I remember welcoming my two grandsons into this world, privileged to be at both of their births. The joy was overwhelming, but so was the relief. The relief that my daughter had made it through, that the pain was over, and that she would stabilize her very stressed body. She suffered from high blood pressure, excessive swelling, and lots of health worries just prior to delivering the boys. When we welcome someone, or something that can occur, we are actually expressing a little bit of pleasure in the moment. There will be memories attached to it, but there might also be a little bit of work! Welcoming new life into this world is a lot of work. So is welcoming Jesus into your life! You don't have to 'do the work' of being forgiven for your sins, but you do have a 'lot of work' ahead of you in learning how to make right choices and 'rework' what have become bad patterns or habits in your life! Good news is that we don't do it alone!

It's the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God—"Jesus is my Master"—embracing, body and soul, God's work of doing in us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That's it. You're not "doing" anything; you're simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you. That's salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things right, and then you say it, right out loud: "God has set everything right between him and me! (Romans 10:9-10)

The word for our day is "welcome". A word we can use as interjection when one's arrival gives one PLEASURE. This is like saying, "Welcome, stranger!" That is how it is with us when we first "welcome" Jesus into our lives - he is a "stranger" to us at first. His ways are a little foreign to us, his purpose for our lives seems a little like setting out into the unknown, so we welcome him, but as a stranger, not as a familiar member of our lives. Yet, in welcoming him in, there is the infilling of such pleasure that we are overjoyed by his presence. At other times, this borders on a greeting of kindly COURTESY. This is like saying, "Let's give him a warm welcome". There are times I think we treat Jesus this way - kind of formally welcoming him, but not really excited about his arrival or his purpose! We extend the "courtesy" of allowing him access into our daily lives without really much forethought or "end-thought" for that matter. Our relationship with Jesus is quite different when we anticipate the pleasure his presence brings vs. extending him a mere courtesy of access!

There is also the idea of RECEIVING something we will experience in a new or deeper way as we welcome someone or something into our lives. This is like saying, "It was a welcomed time of rest." When we welcome Jesus into our lives, we are welcoming all we will receive at his hands. This means that we welcome (move from mere acquaintance into practical experience) all that he brings our way. It means we give someone the FULL RIGHT to something we hold access to alone. This is like saying, "He is welcome to give it a go." When we welcome Jesus in this manner, we are really telling him that we don't want to give it a try alone! We want him right there, alongside us, helping us with the issue at hand. We "grant" him the right to be in control - to move us from "trying" into actually "experiencing" what it is he has in mind for us.

Last, but not least, there is the negative meaning of welcome that we cannot overlook. This is the idea of an UNWANTED welcome. This is like telling Jesus he has "worn out" his welcome! I hope we are not at that place EVER with our Lord! Yet, I wonder if there are times when we just want to ask him to "leave" for a while - because the "heat" is too hot, the "intensity" is too intense. We may feel that his presence is a little "no longer welcomed" because we really did not count the cost before we stepped into what he asked us to do. It is the "word of faith" that welcomes Jesus to go to work in our lives. I think this is kind of like telling Jesus, "You are welcome to have full access to my life." We are doing more than being "courteous" to Jesus - we are viewing that his work in our lives will ultimately produce "pleasure" beyond our imagining. I have times when I am guilty of welcoming Jesus in a half-hearted manner. I think this is human nature. Thank goodness, I have more times now of welcoming him with eager anticipation. That is the process we refer to as growth - moving from courteous welcoming of Jesus' work in our lives into a place where we are cheerfully embracing his work! So, how have you been welcoming Jesus this week? Just askin!