The Hard Work of Believing

“Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” (John 6:28-29, NIV)

I’ve been meditating recently on how hard it is to do nothing.

The setting of this passage is simple: Jesus had just miraculously fed thousands of people, and now they want to crown him king. The disciples may have been thrilled at this, but Jesus wasn’t. He immediately begins to adjust the attitude and expectations of the crowd.

He points out that their real motivation to make him king is the expectation that he could feed them this way from now on. He begins to teach them that the real bread they need is not the bread they typically work for, not even the manna that God gave the Israelites in Moses’ time. They need the “bread that comes down from heaven,” speaking figuratively of himself.

The passage I quoted above is where they go next. Pay attention to this, because this is where we typically go with God when we are seeking God’s blessing, whether it is financial provision, physical health, or we want God to fix something in our lives that needs fixing.

They asked Jesus what work they must do to receive this blessing from God he’s talking about. I’ve learned that all of us are hard-wired to this impulse. When we want something from God, our immediate instinct is to try and figure out what we must do to get God to act on our behalf.

Give me an assignment, a task, something I can do.

Jesus says to us the same thing he said to them: “This is the work you need to do…believe in Me.”

“What?” we say. “No, you must have misunderstood me, Lord. I already believe in you. I’m asking now for something I can do to get you to give me (or do for me) what I’m asking.”

The Lord repeats the same thing back to us. And He always will. Because for Him, THIS (that is, believing) is the starting place. For us, it’s DOING STUFF.

Putting our trust in Christ, first and foremost. Setting our entire hope on God being faithful in the matter at hand. Trusting in His wisdom, in His timing, even in the method(s) He chooses to employ to carry out His plan.

This does not come easy to us. We often interpret this as doing nothing. But it’s not. It’s actually hard work. At times, very hard. Actively putting our faith and trust in God, and waiting on Him for whatever “work” He wants us to do, whatever part we are to play, requires an enormous amount of effort.

The effort of being still. Of quieting our hurried, anxious minds and releasing those tensions to God, rather than acting upon them. It’s hard to do this.

For me, it’s sometimes the hardest work I’ve ever done.

The Fall of Adam has predisposed all of us to immediately start working to fix whatever is wrong in our lives to “sew our fig leaves together,” (especially if we know we’re responsible for the mess we’re in).

Think about it, every other world religion, throughout history or in modern times, except Christianity, has at its roots the idea of man doing things to get right with God. Even Christian-based cults have this in common. The concept of salvation by faith in something God has done for us is a completely foreign concept. We would never have thought of it.

And it’s so engrained in us–this idea of working at closing the gaps in our lives ourselves–we as Christians still go there first (sadly, sometimes only) when we are confronted with trials and problems.

But Jesus says, “This is the work I’m looking for, believe in Me.”

He may give us assignments (often He will), but He wants us to follow the same pattern He followed with His Father. Jesus constantly focused His attention on watching what the Father was doing, and listening for His instructions. His work was never a reaction to a problem, but a response to the directions and commands He received from the Father.

That’s where God wants us to put our energies, too. In that same direction.

But man…it’s hard work.

Lord, as that man in the Gospels cried out, “I believe. Lord, help me with my unbelief,” we cry out today. You are the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Even the faith we have, we’re told is a gift from you, not something we have worked up. Still, having received this gift, you call us to exercize our faith and work hard at believing in You and in Your faithfulness. Strengthen our hearts with grace to be able to do this more today, to not look at things and try to figure them all out or come up with our own solutions, but to look to you and put our faith in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

(NOTE: To read the other posts in this devotional feature of my blog, select “Perfect Peace – Hope for the Weary Soul” in the Category section.)

 

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