ADVENT - “To Do God’s Will”
Happy Monday, and welcome back to our Advent Meditation devotional series. Last week we began our journey by reflecting on the beautiful ways Jesus describes Himself - the light of the world, the bread of life, the Good Shepherd, and God's son, to name a few. They provided a glimpse into His heart for the beautiful mess known as humanity and the hope He freely and graciously offers. This week we turn our attention to exploring the purpose of Jesus and why He entered our broken world and made His home among us. By understanding His purpose, we gain a greater appreciation and clarity on our own. Before we begin, I want to pause and provide space for you to pray that God will bring clarity to your calling and how it's attached to an encounter with His love.
John 4 opens with Jesus making an intentional detour to Samaria. Tired from the journey, Jesus sits down at a well while His disciples venture out to get food and supplies. A Samaritan woman shunned and scorned by her tribe arrives at the well to get water, and when Jesus asks her for a drink, a divine appointment occurs. A conversation ensues where Jesus speaks of living water and how it satisfies spiritual thirst. The care and compassion He displays for this woman, an outcast, frees her from her lifetime of shame. It's for this precise moment Jesus was compelled to go to a region that any obedient teacher of the law back then would have avoided.
Shortly after, the disciples return to an exhausted Jesus and encourage him to eat something and gain a bit of strength. His reply, captured in John 4:34-38, is what we want to delve into today. It reads:
34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
Jesus knew His purpose - to do God's will. So if Jesus was all about loving people and caring for their needs, it leads us to reason that God's will is others-oriented and always lies outside ourselves. Those faithful steps of obedience are where Jesus drew His strength. It works the same for us. By giving ourselves away, we refresh our souls.
Often, we get so caught up in our purpose and calling as believers. What does God want me to do? We obsess over it. We long for clarity, and when it supposedly doesn't come, we don't move, and we become disheartened. In essence, we become paralyzed by purpose. Here's the thing: we don't find our purpose by obsessing about it but by orienting our lives around other people.
The ability to love others is not complicated. It doesn't require education or training. Love doesn't care about the size of our platform or how many social media followers we have. It's not reserved for some elite few. Everyone has the power to love and serve others. Love is merely looking out for the good of another. We leverage the influence we've been given by serving others rather than trying to make a name for ourselves. We consider those around us before ourselves. We pay attention to the needs that present themselves and respond with love.
What drives our words and actions is the hope that people will see Christ in us and look toward the love of their Savior. Everything we do needs to bring His image to bear on the world around us. Our lives should look like Jesus; we ensure this by staying connected to Him. His love fuels our love for every person that crosses our path. Knowing we are loved entirely by Him enables us not to seek love and approval from another person. As a result, we can love and serve others without condition.
REFLECT
Before we wrap up our time together, we want to provide you some space to respond to what we read and maybe to what God is trying to say to you. First, take a moment to process this question…Where do you struggle to understand your purpose and how is this tension causing you to hesitate to step out in faith?
Another question to consider is this…What would your life look like if you oriented your calling around loving other people?
PRAYER
Father God, may I live a life of integrity and mission. The calling You have placed on my shoulders is to pursue Your heart while loving and serving others. Let me lead in such a way that people see You in everything I do. In Your name, Jesus. Amen.