Jewels from John # 4 - What do we Labour For?

-
Devotion # 4

What do we Labour For?

 For the Audio Version Click Here: What Do We Labour For?

“Jesus said to them, my food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.” John 4:34 (NKJV)

Picture Jesus that day as he sat down near the well in Samaria; he was tired, thirsty and hungry. In spite of His physical exhaustion He took time to converse with, and convince the Samaritan Woman that He was indeed the Messiah. She in turn brought her entire village to Jesus, and eventually many believed on Him.  

The disciples of Jesus, who had in the meantime gone to buy food for Jesus were confused when Jesus declined the food that was brought to him and instead said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” John 4:32(NKJV).  Jesus later reiterates in John 4:34, that His food was to do His Father’s will and to complete the work that He sent Him to do.

A lot of us are caught in the rat race, wherein we push ourselves, and our children to do everything we can, to climb the social ladder, only to satisfy our temporal needs and desires. Each of us have two kinds of needs – the one, physical and the other spiritual. Sadly however, most are content with gratifying the physical needs and have literally starved themselves spiritually.  When we don’t seek God, read and meditate on His word, pray to Him, search out His will and plan for our lives, bless others, witness to those around and fulfil His purpose for our lives, we are living in the temporal and losing out on the eternal, because the physical man will die one day but the spiritual man will live on into eternity.

In Matthew 4,  after 40 days of fasting, Jesus was really hungry, and when tempted by the devil to turn the stones to bread, He was so assured about the fact that man does not need only physical food but also the spiritual nurture that God's Word provides.  He therefore quoted to the devil, from the book of Deuteronomy, which depicted the condition of the people of Israel as they wandered in the desert for 40 years:

"So he made you suffer from hunger and then fed you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had seen before.  He did this to teach you that a person cannot live on bread alone but on every word that the Lord speaks.” Deuteronomy 8:3 (GW)

                 For the Audio Version Click Here: What Do We Labour For?
                
               If you've been blessed by this devotion, please share it with others

Esther Collins
Email: thelifetransformingword@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jewels From John # 8 - No Finger-pointing Please

-
Image
Devotion # 8 No Finger-pointing Please For the Audio Version click here:  No Finger-pointing Please John 8:7 , “So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”(NKJV) Read John 8: 1-11 for the entire account. Jesus was at the temple, early in the morning, teaching people who had come eagerly to hear His words. The Scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman who was caught in the very act of adultery.   Their only aim was to trap Jesus and to check whether He would keep the Old Testament law as given by Moses (Leviticus 20:10), which actually commanded that both the man and the woman be put to death, but for some reason only the woman was brought to Jesus. They thought they were putting Jesus in a spot, as they awaited His verdict.   Strangely, Jesus spoke nothing, but simply bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.   No one knows for sure...
Read more

Jewels From John # 3 - The One Who Perceives But Still Pardons

-
Image
Devotion # 3 The One Who Perceives But Still Pardons Click here for the Audio Version:  The One Who Perceives But Still Pardons The woman of Samaria said, “Come see a man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” John 4:29 (NKJV) Read John 4: 4-42 for the entire account. The woman of Samaria had no clue whom she would encounter on that eventful afternoon, as she came to draw water from Jacob’s well.   What seemed to be a casual request from Jesus for a drink of water, developed into a very deep dialogue where the Samaritan woman realized who Jesus was, and that He also knew all about her. Initially she must have been shocked when Jesus revealed that He was aware of the 5 husbands she had earlier, and also about the man she was living with, who was not her husband. There must have been something about the way Jesus spoke to her, that caused her not to be embarrassed, scared and withdrawn, but to feel overjoyed at the thought t...
Read more

Jewels from John # 5 - When We Have No One

-
Image
Devotion # 5 When We Have No One For the Audio Version Click Here:  When We Have No One "The sick man answered, 'Sir, I don't have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.'" John 5:7 (NKJV) The pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, called Bethesda was a unique place. An angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred the water and whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever infirmity they had. The Bible records that a very large multitude of sick and disabled people were all awaiting their turn. It was here that Jesus met this man who was bed-ridden with an infirmity for 38 long years. Jesus knew everything about the man and his predicament, and asked him a very important question, “Do you want to get well?” His reply was amazing. Not knowing who it was who was asking this question, he replied, “Sir, I have no man…” John 5:7 (KJV). Ther...
Read more