I Want to Believe.

 

Faith- It is the work of God that we are to do- Believe. 

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Work - by definition- is - noun 1. activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. 2. a task or tasks to be undertaken; something a person or thing has to do. Verb 1. be engaged in physical or mental activity in order to achieve a result; do work.

Work is an activity, when we are told that God's work is that we believe on Jesus - we are being told that to believe is an activity, it's an action. It's something we do mentally, a task undertaken, we want to achieve the result of doing the work God would have us do.

For how many people is their Believing in Jesus Christ an activity, an action? 

I believe in a lot of things that don't require me to work at believing them. I believe that I am a woman, I believe that I am a cat owner, I believe that I live in Florida.  I believe all those things and I don't have to actively expend effort, it's not a task, that there is no result based on the outcome of those beliefs.  There is an active belief and a passive belief.

How many people choose the passive belief in Jesus rather than the active belief? 

The work of God is that we believe on Jesus, the reality of Jesus. When asked why you believe in Jesus how do you answer the question? 

The ones asking Jesus said this-

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 

They wanted to do the work of God, or so they said.

Prior to that, what was said-

Joh 6:26  Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. 

Joh 6:27  Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. 

Men and woman who had heard Jesus preach and perform miracles, were fed by him miraculously the day before. Then they sought him out and He tells them they aren't seeking Him because of the miracles, (because He is the Son of God, because He is the Messiah, because He can give them eternal life) they are seeing Him because they had their hungry bellies filled with food. They liked being physically fed, and I'm sure most of us can relate to liking to be fed when we are hungry. Jesus wanted them to seek Him for the eternal sustenance that He offered, a true spiritual meat that would give them food that would sustain their eternal lives. 

How many people today live the life of a Christ follower for the temporary sustenance? Because all our temporary sustenance can disappear in a heartbeat. This temporary life we have can end in an instant. All the support we rely upon can cease. Our health could fail us miserably. We could live the lives of Job - metaphorically speaking of course. But everything we touch could seem to fall apart. We could go from one disaster to the next. None of those things mean that our SAVIOR has stopped loving us! Jesus was telling those people they should live for their eternal life, a life found in HIM, a hope found in Him! Yet their minds didn't extend passed their bellies. They wanted a Messiah who would relieve their oppression by the Romans. They wanted a Messiah who would usher in peace in a chaotic existence. They did not want some man spouting words of everlasting life which meant he wasn't going to do anything about their temporary existence.

I'll be the first to admit, I pray for my temporary existence, we are told to ask of the Father and He who knows will hear our petitions. However! First and foremost we have to pray for God's will to be done and that no matter what we are called to endure (and we pray it's not the horrors of Job in the least or the worst) that we will do the WORK of GOD and BELIEVE on the LORD JESUS CHRIST! 

It's not meant to be an easy life at all. We are to do the work of God and believe! Not do what we think is the work of God and expect an earthly reward for our efforts.

It is my prayer that God helps me to believe and to do the work of God, that I don't get caught up in the horrors of this life and let them drag me away from Him, that I believe in Jesus Christ and the gospel of salvation in Him no matter what. Please, Lord… please.