I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest Me to do. John 17:4
Sometimes when you aren’t sure about God’s will, it can be hard to hold onto your faith.
When you know Jesus has promised you something, if you give up, that is you not doing your work.
This work that Jesus mentioned and The Bible exhorts us in confuses some people.
We have work to do. We are not just stones.
Faith without works is dead.
Following Jesus’ commands are work.
Forgiving someone who harmed you is work.
Putting your flesh to death and walking in the Spirit is work.
It’s all spiritual work.
Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. James 2:17
Some do not understand that the kind of work Jesus is talking about is in the spiritual realm.
No matter what you do, if it is not done unto the Lord, it is empty and will mean nothing.
Even if you serve in a soup kitchen and you feed the poor and the hungry, that is good,
but the work part The Bible is talking about is to glorify Him.
I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abideth in Me, and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without Me ye can do nothing. John 15:5
That is hard for the human ego to hear: ‘Without Me you can do nothing.’
It is full truth. Without Jesus, we can accomplish nothing that will matter.
He is the vine. We have to be plugged into Jesus, that is, attached, drawing life from Him.
We need to be that close. We need to realize that nothing we do matters without Him.
We are not doing this work for ourselves, to earn anything.
We are doing this work which is a manifestation of our dedication and obedience.
When we follow Jesus closely we become a part of Him.
When we think of this scripture:
But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;
and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. Isaiah 64:6
That is a no way to pay Jesus back or to earn our salvation.
No matter what good works we do, they are not from our goodness,
He is the author and finisher of our faith.
We can do it without Him, but it won’t amount to anything.
The way Jesus wants us to serve Him is to honor Him,
not to honor ourselves and not to do things for ourselves, but for Jesus.