What is Work?
In John the sixth chapter there is a very interesting passage. John 6 tells the miracle of Jesus feeding the five thousand; it also tells of Jesus walking on the water. There is also indication in this chapter that the Jews wanted to pronounce Jesus King after the feeding of the five thousand, certainly because if he could do this kind of miracle, they would never have to worry about how they were going to eat ever again.
When Jesus was with His disciples they asked Him this question:
28 Then they asked Him, "What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?" John 6:28 (AMP)
From this question it seems as if they were concerned about replicating the miracles that Jesus performed. They, like the people, were fascinated with miracles, but stil had not grasped the essence of why Jesus had come. Jesus answered them:
29 Jesus answered, "This is the work of God: that you believe [adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith] in the One whom He has sent." John 6:29 (AMP)
What an interesting answer, that Jesus is saying that the real work is to believe. I chose the Amplified version because it enunciates what to "believe" means- to "adhere to, trust in, rely on and have faith" – none of these adjectives depict work as we know it. Yet, for believers on this side of the New Testament we do know that these very things require "work" and full-time work at that!
Our adversary the devil is always roaming about trying to get us to question our belief in Jesus and the things He does in the earth realm. The devil would have us to believe that it is a matter of chance, or coincidence, or some random act of nature. These kinds of suggestions bombard us daily so that our faith will not be strengthened by believing that "every good gift and every perfect gift comes from the Father above (James 1:17 KJV)
For those of us that have walked with Jesus a little while we understand what Jesus meant by saying, "that is the work of God – to believe in the One whom He has sent". And a blessed work it is!
Maria