Your Life’s Labor
“Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. ”
There was a crowd that was following Jesus and when they couldn’t find him, they got into boats and went to Capernaum to look for him. When they found him, Jesus told them he knew why they were looking for him — because they had been fed, they had gotten full, and now they were looking to be fed again. They were earthly minded; thinking only about satisfying a temporary desire with perishable things.
It’s obviously not wrong to work in order to purchase food so that you can continue to live. God says, if you don’t work, you don’t eat, (2 Thessalonians 3:10). Working only for food that perishes, however, or working as if perishable food is all that matters is not the chief end of the Christian life.
Your life’s labor is to work for God. I realize that can sound heavy and burdensome. But look again at the scripture above; what are the works of God? “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” The work we are to be doing is to believe; to believe in him whom God has sent; Jesus Christ, God’s only Son. This is your life’s labor, and this is what should be above and underneath and on either side of your reason for living. You are to believe in God’s Son, and as you keep believing, you are “working” for food that will last into all eternity.
And here is an even more glorious truth within these short verses: the eternal food that we are working to receive is none other than Christ Himself. He says, “…labor…for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you.” As we believe in Jesus, we receive more of Jesus because he has given himself to us that we might have eternal life. He is the bread come down from heaven. He is our heavenly Food. What more do we need? Let us labor together for the Food that endures.*
*Writing this made this song come to mind. He is Sweet.