Living life with the right priorities

“Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’” John 4:34

During COVID-19 restrictions, I have noticed my waist line growing in size. If you are like me, you may be in the process of finding a diet plan to take off that COVID-19 fat to look good in your warm weather clothing. And there are as many diet plans out there as there are people. But that is not the case in our spiritual lives. God has one diet plan that will answer the needs of every person. His plan will reduce unwanted spiritual fat and fatigue. It will give you benefits which last far beyond this life. What is God’s diet plan?

LIVE YOUR LIFE WITH THE RIGHT PRIORITIES (John 4:31-34). While the Samaritan woman went back to her village to tell people about Jesus, Christ’s disciples focus on Jesus’ physical needs. “In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’ But He said to them, ‘I have food to eat of which you do not know.’ Therefore the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?’”(John 4:31-33). The disciples were encouraging Jesus to eat and He told them that He had food to eat. The disciples are asking themselves, “How can this be? He didn’t carry any food with Him. Did that woman give Him something to eat?” Before they left to get food, Jesus was tired and hungry (John 4:6), but now food and rest was not important to Him. Whatever food Christ spoke of, they weren’t familiar with it.

Have you ever gotten so wrapped up in what you were doing that you forgot to eat? Christ was so consumed with love for lost souls He had no interest in food or rest.

As followers of Christ, we must be careful that we do not get so focused on the physical realm that we forget about the spiritual needs of others. Christ shares the key to God’s diet plan. “Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work.’” (John 4:34). His focus is on doing what God wants Him to do. It was God’s will for Christ to give eternal life to the Samaritan woman and through her to the people of Sychar. Consequently, He felt no hunger while doing the will and work of God. God was seeking true worshipers (John 4:23-24) and that is why He gave the woman eternal life so she could worship the Father. Now it was time for the disciples to find worshipers for God. To eat and enjoy that task as one who eats and enjoys food was what Jesus was teaching them now. The Samaritan woman seemed to know this intuitively as she quickly went back to the village to tell others about Christ

Jesus says the priority now is to DO God’s will and FINISH His work. He is not talking about just knowing His will, but doing it. There may be 101 things you can do this week, but how can you get it all done? There is housework, homework, schoolwork, office work and church work. In a world full of things that need to be done, where do we go to get some sense of what to do first? How do we determine our priorities? Most of us just jump right in and overload ourselves. As a result, we begin to get very nervous. We say to ourselves, “Well, I will just have to try harder.”

Learn from Jesus how to determine your priorities:

1. Pray and seek wise counsel from the Lord. We can have problems determining our priorities if we are not taking time to hear God’s voice. Look at the order of determining priorities in Psalm 46:10: “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

a. I must be still enough to hear God’s voice.

b. I will be able to know God and what He wants me to do.

c. God will be exalted as His priorities are carried out.

2. Plan and prioritize. We need to plan. Jesus did not choose to go with His disciples. He found a quiet place and had a one-on-one conversation with the Samaritan woman. He started talking about water, because that’s what the woman came to the well for. Then He gave her water that would satisfy her forever. Prioritize and you will be able to DO and FINISH the works God has entrusted you. 

Prayer: Father God, this is such a convicting message for me. It has been a struggle maintaining the right priorities in my life lately. I can easily become preoccupied with my own physical needs and the physical needs of those close to me during this COVID-19 crisis, so that I forget about the spiritual needs of others. Thank You for the example of Jesus with the Samaritan woman. Even though He was tired from His journey, He focused on her need for everlasting life. His food was to do Your will and finish Your work. Father, I want the same food that Jesus consumed. Please show me Your will for me at this time so I may finish the work You have set before me. I believe it involves sharing Your message of everlasting life with those You have prepared to hear and believe it so they may worship You in spirit and in truth. By Your grace, help me to finish well what You have set before me so that all the glory is given to You. Thank You for hearing my prayer, Father God. In Jesus’ name. Amen.