Tuesday
January 10, 2022

God’s Mission

John 6:25-40

Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval. Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: To believe in the one he has sent.” John 6:27

Jesus the Bread of Life
25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed 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. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”

28 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

29 Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

30 So they asked him, “What sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. 37 All those the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all those he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. 40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Placeholder Picture

Pondering Point

God’s overall mission is laid out clearly in a familiar passage of John found earlier in chapter 3:16: "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  

Just as the body needs to be fed, so the soul needs nourishment. Jesus is God’s answer to feeding our spirits, the exact nourishment to feed us. To believe in Jesus is to feed our spirits. It is not enough to know about food and its benefits; one must ingest food to receive the benefits.

Our goal (and God’s!) is not simply to know about Jesus but to take Him in, to accept the truth that He is the son of the Living God and that He has come to bring us life. As John himself said: "to all who did receive him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)".

Placeholder Picture

Affirmation For The Day

I believe that Jesus has been sent by God the Father and that Jesus’ death on the cross was for my sins. I believe that God’s seal of approval is on Jesus in and through His birth, baptism, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the throne of God.