In the mean while his disciples prayed him,
saying, Master, eat.
But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Therefore said the disciples one to another,
Hath any man brought him ought to eat?
Jesus saith unto them,
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;
for they are white already to harvest.
And he that reapeth receiveth wages,
and gathereth fruit unto life eternal:
that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together.
And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.
I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour:
other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours. John 4:31-38
There is one friend I have in particular that I have known for nearly 40 years
She is so cumbered with duties and tasks and obligations
that she has no time for our friendship
She has those who make demands on her time
and she has chosen not to nourish our friendship
It really doesn’t take much time to let someone know you care,
it takes effort though
When I mentioned this to her as I am moving far away,
She said, then I’ll be able to visit without interruption
We all know that is not going to turn out as she imagines,
The far off, the future, some day…
I consider this is similar to what the Lord is saying when He said,
The Harvest is ripe
He was saying, do what you can when you can
Don’t put it off
Do not say to your neighbor,
“Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,”
When you have it with you. Proverbs 3:28
The meat Jesus is talking of is doing God’s will
He explained that to the disciples
Jesus saith unto them,
My meat is to do the will of him that sent me,
and to finish his work. V 34
He basically said, keep your priorities straight
for the cares of this world will come in like a thief
Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest?
behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields;
for they are white already to harvest v 35
There is work to do right now, this very minute
Serving God is really about priorities
Is God your priority?
Obligation will choke you out
and may very well choke out the desire to serve God
and the tasks He gives you to do
When you serve the world, your priorities are mixed up
even those things that are seemingly good and noble
Deciphering the difference between the freedom in Christ,
that is, the ability to serve Him and to keep your eyes on His purposes,
and obligation which is insurmountable is not always easy
Obligation is the world and putting the world as a priority
The freedom to serve Christ is where it’s at
When Martha besought the Lord
that her sister Mary had not been helping enough,
And Jesus answered and said unto her,
Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:
But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,
which shall not be taken away from her. Luke 10:41-42
Martha was operating under obligation
Mary was serving the Lord
The other scripture that comes to mind
was when Mary poured the costly ointment on Jesus’ feet
Many were distraught about this act
Jesus assured them this was appreciated by Him
If there is an opportunity to do something for the Lord, do it
Time slips away
and the opportunity for that exact act will not come back again
Scriptural References:
Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly,
and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair:
and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son,
which should betray him, Why was not this ointment sold
for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief,
and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Then said Jesus, Let her alone:
against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.
John 12:3-8
And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,
as he sat at meat, there came a woman
having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious;
and she brake the box, and poured it on his head.
And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said,
Why was this waste of the ointment made?
For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence,
and have been given to the poor.
And they murmured against her.
And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble ye her?
she hath wrought a good work on me.
For ye have the poor with you always,
and whensoever ye will ye may do them good:
but me ye have not always.
She hath done what she could:
she is come aforehand to anoint my body to the burying.
Verily I say unto you,
Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world,
this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.
Mark 14:3-9