Work

What do you work for?

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 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. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” - John 6:27-40

Would you keep working if you didn't need the money?

We work.  We get paid.  We spend the money. And we go back to work.

It is a vicious cycle, and one we refer to as living paycheck to paycheck.  

Most of us don't have the resources to continue to live comfortably when the paychecks stop.  So, that brings us to the answer to our initial question.

We work for food, and shelter, and the basics of life.

Without them, we are floundering, lost, uncertain about the future, and maybe even a little scared.

Work is such a fundamental necessity for many of us that we freak out if we think we won't have a job.  At least that is how it is for me.  I need to be doing something to make money so I don't have to worry about everything else.

But I spent years living in the uncertainty, between real jobs, struggling to do my own thing, not making nearly enough money to make ends meet.  I lived on the edge of working for food that perishes and working on doing the things that were good for my soul, of so I thought.

Spoiler alert!

I didn't manage to find the perfect balance to help me understand what Jesus was talking about, until I stumbled on this period of my life where I somehow managed to align myself with God's Spirit and work for food that doesn't perish.

Ironically, that food involves feeding others.

So, maybe I am beginning to understand what Jesus means.  If I take the risk and do the work God has for me, work that needs to get done by someone, anyone, maybe the stars will align and I will be able to have my own needs filled as well.

Is that what the goal is?  I hope so.  For me, it is working.

More to come...