Day 6 :: Friday, March 15, 2011, Working for Spoils

Read John 6.25-29. What are you working for that spoils? Practice confession by writing those pursuits here.

Contemplation Over Day 6

This is such a hard question to answer, it’s like trying to come up with a list of daily sins that you committed. I think everything I work on that doesn’t glorify God or doesn’t prove to have productive roots based in scripture is a pursuit that spoils. All or many are not things that are necessarily bad, they just don’t add to furthering my understanding of scripture or bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.

I think the key word here is spoils. I can’t look at the above without saying that the pursuit of doing the laundry spoils because it doesn’t further the kingdom. Doing our normal routine of chores and duties we have to do because we are alive may seem like they spoil, but they are more like the “toil” not the spoil.

Things that i would pick that are the biggest time suckers, which keep me from further developing a relationship with God are probably TV, Internet (mindless pursuits on the Internet, there are many good pursuits to be had), and perhaps things like football season and everything that seems to be necessary with that venue, and a host of other little things that rob time from my day one little minute at a time.

In this passage today, John 6:26, Jesus used those famous words “I tell you the truth”, 4 times in the discourse just within this particular discourse (John 6:26, 32, 47, and 53) to point out the importance of what he was about to say. in 6:26, as i wrote about yesterday (see I AM Lenten Reader Review, Bread of Life :: Lent Day 5) Jesus is rebuking the disciples for their intentions for materialistic gain, and their total lack of spiritual perception. (BKC p.235)

In v.27 Jesus tells us specifically not to work for those things that spoil, but to expand our work into working for things that don’t spoil, working for the eternal, for things that won’t spoil. This is not totally new but one thing I find significant is that Jesus specifically tells us in verse 27 to work for those things that last into eternity, “[work for] the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give to you”. (v.27 ESV)

What i find significant about this verse is that is says things we work for in this life will pass to our eternal life? Most commentaries say “spiritual food leads to eternal life” (BKC p.295), which is correct, but it doesn’t examine that the spiritual food (reading, studying, praying, bearing good fruit) will pass on to the eternal life. My knowledge of movies or who won last year’s NCAA tournament is probably not the most important spiritual food that endures to eternity, but what about knowledge learned through studying of the bible?

As I read on in v.28-29 it shows that the people were thinking that their salvation came from doing good works or being a good person (cf. Romans 10:2-4), but Jesus says no, there is only one way, to believe in the One whom God has sent.