John 6:28-29 - Slowing Down

“Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?” 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 ‭6:28-29‬ ‭AMP‬‬

Such a normal and common question...I can see myself asking this of Jesus. What must we do to do the works of God? What does God desire, what makes God happy, what does He require of us? Surely we should turn that into a habit. I desire to do that.  We focus on doing, striving, checking stuff off the list, getting crap done, earning our way, climbing the ladder, executing. Of course, this would translate into our relationship with Christ, right? I think it does, and it shouldn’t. This is what Jesus responded with. 

“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

Jesus said nothing about doing external works. Jesus said plainly that you believe in the One whom He has sent. Adhere to Jesus. Trust in Jesus. Rely on Jesus, and have faith in Jesus. This is the work of God; this is the work we must do. 

Our hurry, hurry, hurry. Go, go, go lifestyles clash with Jesus' response. We also continually fight with our desire to do. Think about the question the people asked Jesus. Our questions reveal our intentions and motives. The question was about doing the works of God...how can we do, earn, work towards, and for. Wrong question. 

Our job, our purpose, our outflow as a follower of Christ, lies in verse 29. Whenever we are faced with the question of what should we do, what direction should we go, what’s next...Jesus covered that right here. We need to believe, adhere to, trust in, rely on, and have faith in Jesus. This is our purpose and our mission. Look at the life of Christ Jesus, and recognize that Jesus came as a human being not to teach us how to go to heaven, but to how to be a fully alive human being here on this earth. Thank you, Richard Rohr, who said that so perfectly.