April 23 - Believe in Him

April 23 – Believe in Him

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”

Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” (John 6:25-34)

This is the work of God – that you believe in him whom he has sent. (John 6:29)

We really do make it difficult on ourselves, don’t we! 

We want to make the bread and serve the bread and gather up the crumbs of the bread and clean up everything after the bread has been baked and then served.  We want to put the bread in its air-tight bag and seal it up so that it doesn’t spoil, then put it aside for the next time we need to have bread available.  We want to do all the work so that we can see its completion.

The work of God – believe in him whom he (God) has sent.

That really can’t be all there is to it – can it?  Because that doesn’t seem like enough.  We’re responsible, we’re talented, we’re busy, busy, busy.  We should be doing something so that it IS actually work that we’re doing for God.

Believe in him whom God has sent.

We don’t understand something as simple as this.  We want more of an explanation.  We want to compare this to what we have had to do in the past.  We want it to look like something that we comprehend. 

Maybe if it looks like … I know …  manna.  Our ancestors spent 40 years eating manna.  There’s a lot of historical information about how manna came from heaven and ensured that they wouldn’t starve.  That’s it.  Can we get manna again?  That would make sense.

Believe in him.