"Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die." (John 6:49-50)
"It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." (John 6:63)
We have many great men in this world. They are well-known and are powerful. The decisions they make affect a great many things, a ripple into the lives of others. At the end of their lives, I believe that their goal is to have affected as many people as possible. To have power and to have weld it, for good or bad, is what makes them important in this world.
For our children today as well, they are taught to "make a difference". By default this means affecting the lives of other people. That in itself is not a bad thing at all. If they can make a positive contribution to society, more power to them.
But as much as we are to go through life "making a difference", the source of our actions makes the real difference. Jesus teaches that He is the source of life - there is no other. Therefore, as Christians, we must source all of our actions in Him alone. The Word is our sole authority and we must read and interpret it with honesty and clarity, not taking little snippets which help support our personal fleshly desires.
For even the most powerful people on the earth, their lives will probably have some good and some bad mixed in. However, without the Lord, what will have been their profit? When standing in front of God steeping the sins we all have, yet not having the blood of Jesus as a propitiating sacrifice, what will they say in their final accounting? They can only say that they lived for their own fleshly desires, and disregarded any of God's leading. No matter what they did in their lives, having never known God, they will not enter the Lord's house.
For myself, this is a call to reorient once again to the Lord. It is so easy, living in the world to get focused on stuff - moving up in the world and obtaining more status symbols. These days, on Friday and Saturday nights, I even see the youths driving souped up used 3 series and Infiniti G coupes. Wow, nice cars for the young guys! We are so rich and brand conscious in the US that even our kids, who probably haven't worked much in their lives desire and are given expensive brand name status symbols to drive.
But no matter what house we live in, or what car we drive, that stuff isn't life. For the most part, within 5 years, all the possessions we have will no longer be hip, cool or fashionable. They are literally fading and rotting before our eyes.
We too have precious little time on the earth. Our lifetimes are fading second by second and minute by minute.
However, the Lord created us with a purpose and a plan. He knew what our lives would mean, and it is when we get close to our Creator that we live the way we were meant to. I need to spend more deliberate time with the Lord. I need to make time to get away and to pray. To ask the Lord about my actions and plans, to get His counsel and to stay on the path that He desires for my life.
Lord Jesus, I know that today's process was roundabout, but I don't want to fall into the cycle of the world and the ways of the flesh. In the end, there will be no profit in that in the final accounting. Instead, I know that there is a specific plan and process that You are leading me through. Help me to come back to the simplicity of a daily walk with You. Let me never be drawn off by the busyness and whims of the world. You will lead me and guide me in all things, and I will rest in You. In the life-giving name of Jesus, Amen.
