“For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will. And this is the will of God, that I should not lose even one of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them up at the last day. For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”
John 6:38-40 NLT
Jesus couldn’t have been clearer about His mission. He left His Heavenly home to “do the will of God who sent [Him]” here on Planet Earth. And twice He said that all those who come to Him, those given Him by God, believing in Him, would be resurrected “at the last day”. The resurrected ones will then enjoy eternal life.
There are those who experience a miserable life riven by illness, deprivation, drugs, or similar, people who say that to go on experiencing such an existence for ever is the last thing that they want. But when God comes to live with His people on the new earth (Revelation 21) we read that “He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever” (Revelation 21:4). Eternal life with God will be a wonderful, fulsome and amazing experience never to be compared with our human natural lives. The Bible clearly states that we will either spend eternity in Heaven or hell, so, at least for me, the choice is a “no-brainer”. The assurance of eternal life is, however, not a choice that can be made when people stand before God on that final and terrible day of judgement. The decision to believe in Jesus, with all that that entails, has to be made while we continue to enjoy God’s season of grace.
Jesus’ mission was to do the will of His Father. He had no doubts as to what this was, and He set His face steadfastly towards His goal at Calvary, the culmination of His mission. And in the process He would set aside His own will, heavily influenced though it was by His humanity. The degree to which He refused to deviate from those final days in Jerusalem can be found in those moments in the Garden of Gethsemane, which we can read in Matthew 26, “He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine”” (Matthew 26:39). Such was His dilemma, that we read in Luke 22:44, “He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood”. We pilgrims can never even start to imagine what Jesus went through that day, but we bow before Him in worshipful gratitude. What a Saviour!
Are we pilgrims clear about our mission in life? Do we know what God wants us to do? Some believers are called to mission in far off places, and we can read the accounts of many who faithfully laboured for many years amongst needy people. But for most of us the will of God is worked out within our families and communities, schools and workplaces where we are beacons of light in otherwise dark places. So we make the most of every opportunity to share the love of God, and the eternal life that will be the reward for faithful believers.
Dear Lord Jesus. Again we say before You, What a Saviour! We give You all the glory today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 