My Food

By Rickie Jenkins

As Jesus sits down on the curb by the well in Sychar, He has been teaching for about eight months straight at this point. He is literally exhausted. Jesus and the disciples don’t have enough to eat, so the disciples go to town to get food. While they’re gone, a woman visits the well.  She’s a Samaritan. Jesus engages her. He talks to her about a special kind of water and if she drinks, she will never thirst again. He is not talking about the water from Jacob’s well but living water only He can give.

She goes to tell the people who she has met, and the disciples return from town. When they left Him, He was exhausted and hungry. Now, He is invigorated and filled. They don’t understand so He says, “My food is to do the will of My Father Who sent Me, and to finish His works” (John 4:34). That expression is powerful. He was absolutely committed to following the will of the Father, always, in all things.

When He says, “My food…” He is saying the thing that moves Him, fills Him, and drives Him is doing the will of the Father. When He did the will of the Father He was filled and strengthened. It was His passion. It was His consuming desire. It satisfied His hunger.

That got me to thinking, “Am I that passionate about doing the will of the Father?” If I am physically hungry, but committed to do the will of the Father, am I then filled? Truthfully, there are times when I am more committed to my own will than His will, especially when I find myself famished.

We often focus on attendance at our assemblies. What if we focused on being passionate about doing the will of the Father? Attendance would take care of itself. Attendance is not the issue. Passionately doing the will of the Father is the issue! Further, if our food is to do the will of our Father, what would that do for our marriages? What would that do when worldly problems arise? How would that help solve family strife? How much greater could the local church thrive if, collectively, their food was to do the will of the Father?

Hosea said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge… you have forgotten the law of your God” (Hosea 4:6). That could easily be read, “My people are starved for the lack of will to please the Father. They are dying from hunger” (From the Book of Rickie). If we are so filled with the knowledge of God’s will and motivated by this passion of Jesus, we will always be full.

Let’s make it our aim and purpose to let our plate be full of food -- to do the will of the Father!

Rickie Jenkins (Campbell Road church of Christ, Garland, TX)