Working for What

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WORKING FOR WHAT

John 6:22-27

22 The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. 23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. 24 Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?" 26 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. 27 Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

NIV

We are back to that same point about seeking Jesus for the material things he can bless us with. Those people were searching for Jesus because he feed them, that is it. They had no clue he was the Son of God, the Messiah, the anointed one, the Savior of the world. They only knew he had feed them and they wanted to be around him so they could get more of that bread and fish, after all that was a good thing. They did not have to work for their food; they only had to listen to a short sermon. Sort of sounds like some of the missions places on skid row. But this was not skid row, this was the common people of that time, people who most likely had some kind of job, or way to support themselves and their families, but they were not at work, they were following after Jesus because he had feed them. Who needs to work when the food is free? But we have a lesson for us today from those words of Jesus. He was not talking about working to support our families, but he was talking about putting forth all our efforts to working for material goods. What we put value on is where are hearts will be. If we work hard to gain all the material wealth of this world that we can, storing up as much as we can for our later years, then we have placed a great deal of value on the accumulation of material goods, of wealth. Jesus says all that will spoil and we should be working for that which does not spoil but endures to eternal life. What good is all the wealth in the world if we do not have eternal life? It may be that even some, who confess to be believers, have gotten side tracked with concerns about the accumulation of wealth, after all we even have Christian financial advisors, and we have preachers telling us to give more so we will be blessed with more wealth. Yes, we need to work; we need to provide for ourselves and our families. Yes we have to live in this world, have someplace to live, food, clothes, cars etc., but all that is just stuff, and we cannot get overpowered by the lust for more of it, for it will all spoil. There is also a truth in these words of Jesus about working for Salvation. Yes, Jesus told them and us that we should work for that which endures to eternal life. That could be seen as our need to work good deeds, to be involved in church, doing some ministry. But in the next words of Jesus which we will see later, he says the work of God is to believe in the one he set. We should not get ahead of ourselves, but only see that work is not good deeds, Jesus will give us eternal life, give us, it is free, as that bread and fish were. We will spend more time on that concept next. For now we should consider where our treasure is, what we value, what we spend most of our energy on, what drives us, motivates us to have what we have. What do we work for? It is true that if we seek first his kingdom then all this stuff will be added on to us as well, but again, what do we seek first? What do we work for?