My Food

Jn. 4:34

"Jesus said to them, My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to accomplish His work."

As I read this account, I had to ask myself if my 'food' was to do the work of the Father? When Jesus spoke of food, He meant that which was necessary for survival, for quality of life. For the average Christian, how much time is spent in the daily purchasing, cooking, and storing of food? How much time is spent earning the money to buy the groceries? It is this time and focus that Jesus meant when He taught this lesson. His complete focus was the will of the Father even if it meant giving up a meal, even if it consumed all of His time.

In this particular instance, Jesus had also crossed boundaries demonstrating how this was part of the will of God as well. He was speaking with a Samaritan woman, something that Jews did not do. Why would He do this? He gave the answer later when He spoke to the disciples. "Lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are ripe for harvest."  Jesus was modeling what He was asking His disciples to do. He was attending to the harvest, a harvest which applied to all peoples and nations even those who were normally considered outcasts.  

Now for the hard questions, how much of my time is spent accomplishing the will of the Father as compared to the time that I spend attending to the normal activities of life? What is my focus about food, shelter, and clothing? Are they more than necessities? Am I desiring some kind of status and position with the world because of where I live, where I shop, what I cook, and how I dress? Does my life reflect worship of God more than a preoccupation with the world?  Am I reaching out to those people who are 'outcasts'? Am I looking at the harvest as a ready reaper?

Father,

What a lesson! Cleanse my heart of a longing for what the world has and offers. Sharpen my eyes to the harvest. Make me a ready and able harvester reaping anywhere that You lead.

In Jesus name,

Amen