September 04

Doing God’s Work


When Jesus returned to the house where he was staying, the crowds began to gather again, and soon he and his disciples couldn’t even find time to eat.

Mark 3:20 (NLT)


This verse catches my attention today, because I am in the middle of a family reunion … in my house. Aunts, uncles, cousins and parents—all wonderful people—crowd the kitchen and dining room. I’m sure it’s not even a small taste of what Jesus encountered with the mass of individual expectations begging His attention.

But when I read about Jesus, I understand He focused on the physical as a way to emphasize the spiritual. Sure, people were physically healed, but that wasn’t the end purpose. The physical was not the real priority and it’s seen by the fact Jesus denied Himself that He might do the work God called Him to. At times like this, He went without food or sleep to touch souls as well as bodies. Certainly, He healed the lame and gave eyesight to the blind, but He also spoke. He taught and taught and taught that their lives might find deeper meaning.

Ultimately, Jesus would die on a cross. And saving the world meant so much more than the physical … yet it included all of it—the sweat, the pain, the tears. Again, it played a part in Christ’s mission, but ultimately the mission was about having a heart for others—a love for the World at large (John 3:16).

So, my challenge is to look beyond the physical, to look beyond my rights, my needs, my desires. Instead, I need look to the needs of others and consider as Jesus did, “What would the Father have me do?”


Lord God, show me Your work, Your will for me. Amen.