11/23/2018
Do you sit at the feet of Jesus to learn, and if you do, exactly what is it that you are expecting to learn about? Are you there to learn what God can do for you, or maybe about what heaven looks like, what is required for you to be healed of something, the secret of eternal life, how about to increase your power... or, perhaps some other hidden knowledge that you think He might give you? Jesus came to do one thing, the will of God, and that is what we should expect to learn by sitting at Jesus’ feet.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day."”
John 6:38-40 ESV
Jesus came to save us, to redeem us, because that was God’s will. I find what Jesus told the crowd after He had just performed the miracle of the fishes and loaves very revealing...
“Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal."”
John 6:26-27 ESV
Jesus said that the people remained there to be fed bread... but Jesus was there to transition them from physical food to spiritual food. When we pursue Jesus, and sit at His feet, why are we there? Are we there like those on the mountainside near the sea of Tiberius? Is our hunger for physical food like theirs, or spiritual food? Do we seek comforts in this world over what awaits in heaven? If we must wait on our answer to prayer will we walk away from God famished, and seeking to feed our hunger elsewhere? Do we seek what God can do for us rather than the knowledge of who He is, and what we can do to advance His will?
“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
John 15:15 ESV
Jesus desires to reveal God to us, and by more than just a viewing, He wants to reveal God’s will for us individually, and in all things. The question most people ask is why Jesus came, but what they should really be asking is why they have come to the feet of Jesus. Have you resolved that question for yourself? Have you determined whether you are here for the bread and fish, or are you here for the spiritual nourishment that only God can provide? Are you satisfying your own will, or are you seeking to know God’s Son, and by Him the will of the Father?
“Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."”
John 6:32-33 ESV
How will we answer Jesus? What will we respond to this? It is my prayer that our eyes and appetites will be changed, and refocused on the true bread. It is my prayer that we will all say these words in full truth and understanding...
“They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
John 6:34-35 ESV
But the danger, and my fear, is that we still might not understand...
“But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.”
John 6:36-38 ESV
Do you know now why Jesus came? Is Knowing God’s will your desire?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for sending your Son Jesus Christ to redeem us, and to reveal your will to us. Thank you Holy Father for feeding us bread and giving us wine to quench our thirst, for they are the body and blood of your Son Jesus. On this mountainside let Him feed us with the miracle of your will, and nurture us in your ways. Help us Merciful Father, to see Him in His fullness as the one who brings Your will and grace to life amongst us. Let the scales fall from our eyes, and the veil from over our faces. Let today be the beginning of our understanding, and the radiance of your will within us. Thank you Holy Father for your love and mercy... thank you for the miracles we see in your will for us. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God, in whom all truth and goodness resides, and whose will is perfect. Praised be your name, now and forevermore.
“And Jesus cried out and said, "Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me. I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”
John 12:44-46 ESV
Rich Forbes