Hunger to Connect With the Will of God

John 4:28-38

The Greek language distinguishes at least four different ways the word love is used. Today I would like to speak of two of them, phileo love and agape love. Simply stated:

phileo is love that reciprocates

                      agape is love given whether the love is returned or not        

unconditional love

As Jesus walked the earth agape love is just what he demonstrated at all times. That is the only way to live a sinless life as Jesus did. Though his disciples followed Jesus and loved him, they struggled like we do to offer agape love 24/7.

How do we enhance our ability to offer agape love? I assert that feeding ourselves and being fed spiritual food is the only way; opening our hearts to the moving of the Holy Spirit and immersing ourselves in His Word. Then we will hunger to connect with the will of God.

When the disciples spoke to Jesus about needing to eat, in John 4:32,34  his reply was;

                                      “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.                                                 My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” 

Jesus’ words referred to being on a mission that took precedence over any human need. A goal so important, nothing could interrupt it. A passion of the greatest depth.

This encounter, though far more intense, is similar to the role of a parent with an inconsolable baby. The infant is their focus, despite anything else, including their own hunger. The unconditional love they feel for their child takes priority over any want or desire they may have, and their heart is centered on the comfort and peace of their precious, innocent child.

God loves all of his children with agape love as Jesus validated while he was here on earth. The woman at the well, who sinned time and again, the people who condemned him as he spread the word, and those who beat and nailed him to the cross, were loved. Jesus begged the Lord to forgive them as he was in excruciating pain and agony. That is agape love.

Agape Love is what God gives us.

Agape Love is what God asks of us.

Read/Listen to John 4:28-38

A balanced meal

Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.”  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”  John 4:31-32

[Today’s text, John 4:27-38, is found within the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, which you can read by clicking here.]

I am a grazer.  Thanksgiving aside, I’m not normally one for heaping food portions, preferring instead to “supplement” meals by nibbling on this and that throughout the day.  It keeps the engines running at a steady hum.

Yet I’ve noticed that, when deeply engrossed in something and making headway – whether reading or writing, upkeep or yard work, cardio or lifting – food is the last thing on my mind.  In fact, it’s an unwanted distraction.  It breaks focus when I need focus.

It seems counter-intuitive that when applying ourselves the most, our interest in food is at its lowest.  But then we realize there is more to us than our bodies, that our whole-person nourishment is not limited to “four basics,” neatly stacked into a tidy pyramid.  In fact, our spirits are strengthened by creating and accomplishing, learning and understanding, giving and serving, worship and praise.  Our innermost cravings are satisfied not by meat or grain, but by truth, obedience and the healthy fruit they produce.

Jesus understood this; his disciples did not. 

So he told them.  “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.”  That’s what energized Jesus!  The deepest hunger within him was only satisfied by doing his Father’s will; finishing his Father’s work was the sole quenching of his soul’s thirst.

Even as he spoke, the Samaritan town-folks made their way toward him like “fields ... ripe for harvest.”  And of that, there was much, for John writes, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him.”

Jesus did as his Father willed.  And by that measure, he was satisfied, his spirit was full.

But his was not the only soul to feast that day!  Jesus harvested new believers as his Father provided them, but who planted that crop?  It was the woman at the well ... the one who’d had five husbands and was living with someone else at the time ... the one who shared openly the only testimony she had: “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.  Could this be the Christ?”  It was she who did the sowing … or what Jesus called “the hard work.”

And in doing so, she, too, had done the will of the Father.  She, too, was well fed and satisfied.  It must have been, for her, a Thanksgiving meal.

Age Appropriate- 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

My son and I recently spent time with my mom and sister, while my dad with making the journey from this life to the next. To keep things as “normal” for my four year old as possible my mom bought some video games for Evan to play on my dad’s Xbox. (Yes my dad had an Xbox, he was an interesting person indeed.)

Evan and I would sit and play Lego Batman. To our amazement Evan could adeptly navigate the Lego world, fighting bad guys and discovering new super hero moves like a professional, while I stumbled my way around a controller with too many buttons.

It wasn’t until later that my mom mentions that the game was for those ten and up. Laughing we were shocked that a preschooler could smoothly find his way around this advanced game. I don’t know what is funnier, Evan playing with ease or me trying to keep up.

Our scripture passage today has Paul talking to Christians who should be acting a lot more mature than they are. “I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.”

Just as I wasn’t ready to play the video game with my son, so many Christians are not ready to live as Christians because they refuse to give up infantile things such as gossip, lying, jealousy and quarreling. Let’s not be among those still drinking spiritual milk, but let’s surrender our wills to the Father.

Read today's scripture at Biblegateway 1 Corinthians 3:1-9