"I came to do the Father's will." -Jesus

Behold, I have come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me:
I delight to do your will, O my God;
Your law is within my heart. Ps. 40: 7-8, ESV

In the past few chapters of John that we have studied, Jesus frequently mentioned that He came to do the Father’s will and that He was here doing the work of the Father.
Here are those references so you can check them out:

• John 5:19-20
• John 5:30
• John 6: 37-40
• John 7:16-18

The Father has a plan and has had this plan for all of eternity (Eph. 1:3-6). Jesus’ advent and ministry were part of this plan, as well as was His laying down His life and dying on the cross. This leads me to have a couple of thoughts of why Jesus kept emphasizing that He was here to accomplish the Father’s plan:

• I think He wanted us to know that He was here to rescue us.
• I think He wanted us to know that God has a plan for us in Christ and that we are to seek that will.
• I think that Jesus wanted us to know that He is trustworthy and we can trust Him with our very lives since He was here for the Father’s plan and not His own. 
• I think He showed us the Father’s works so that we would recognize when He is at work in our own lives and the lives of family and church and others around us. 
• I think He wanted us to know that God has this all figured out and that we can rest in Him because of that! 

So what should we do in response to this? I have a few thoughts about that, too!

• Look to Him for your life and trust Him!
• Pray and ask God to fill you with the knowledge of His will so we can be about His will, just as Jesus came to do. Paul prays this way in Colossians 1:9-14.
• Offer your life to God through Christ, so that our minds will be renewed. As we do this, we can test and know what the will of God is. Then seek to live out His will for you, not just know it!

Is this a great simplification of pursuing God’s will? Perhaps. But, what would happen if we actually lived devoted lives to Him and sought to do what He wants? I honestly think our lives would be changed and just maybe the world will be impacted. Maybe that’s why we only pursue this in a half-hearted manner. If you have read this devotion to this point, thank you! You are to be commended. If you would be so willing, please email me (smitty@nlifecma.org) and I would love to pray personally for you what Paul prayed for the Colossians, to know and do God’s will. 

Praying for Y’all and myself to step into what God has for us in Christ, both the riches of knowing Him and living it out. 

Please read John 8:1-30 for Sunday.

Pastor Andy 

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