Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?” “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. John 4:31-34

Jesus came to Earth for a purpose. He said that His purpose was to do God’s will and finish God’s work. That required an inner life of communion with God. As disciples of Jesus, this is also our objective. To do this, we need to know God personally, for example through prayer, which we should think of as “an inner dialogue of trust,” something relational rather than transactional.

However, our inner lives can be tumultuous for so many reasons. We suffer from distrustful views of ourselves, others, and God. What if we surrender to God’s will and are led to pain and ruin? We often suspect this outcome because our experience of following our own wills results in pain, and we assume we know ourselves better than God could. In fact, God’s will is good, complete, and beneficent. God’s will for us is better than ours.

When we embrace God’s will, finishing God’s work is a life-giving practice, giving us new perspective on what to prioritize and what to give up. Think for a moment: Is your own will driving you to a place that sucks all your time and energy? If you have nothing left with which to care for, rejoice in, and bring blessing to others, reassess whose work you’re actually focused on finishing.
You can grow in your communion with God. It requires trust that following God is more fulfilling than following yourself. A transactional life results in loneliness and despair, but we’re invited into relationship.

Resource reading: Ephesians 5:1-17