Oct 3 - John 4:34

Then Jesus explained:

"My nourishment comes from

doing the will of God, who sent me,

and from finishing his work."

John 4:34

Jesus and his disciples had been traveling long and hard.

Our long and hard is sitting on a leather seat in a plush automobile listening to music in stereo while eating a Big Mac from the drive thru. Our biggest traveling inconvenience is being a little stiff.

Their long hard road involved Middle Eastern sun, desert dust, and rare watering holes (instead of convenience stores at every exit). Therefore, after a day's travel and Jesus being distracted by a long conversation, his disciples kept "urging Jesus, 'Rabbi, eat something.' (v. 31).

"32 Jesus replied, I have a kind of food you know nothing about."

What fills you, sustains you, blesses you even more than physical fuel? That's the question of the day.

Jesus answers it this way: "My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work."

That prompts three final questions:

• What is the will of God that Jesus -- and you and me -- are called to fulfill? (Read the next verse: Jesus talks about a field that is ripe for the harvest. And why he told his disciples that he wasn't physically hungry, is that he's just been harvesting from that field by nurturing the faith of the Samaritan woman at the well.)
  
  
• How great is your desire to do the will of God?
• Do you allow service and outreach to fill you, or do you tend to fill yourself with yourself? (May I say, maybe that's why you're so tired and empty.)

In Christ's Love,

a guy who's nourished

every time he shares the Word

(Thanks for letting me eat today)