For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

                                                                                                                    John 6:40 

Today: Read John 6

When we speak about the will of God, we are considering what He wants and desires. Today’s passage reveals to us exactly what is the will of God. But in order to better understand God’s will, we need to differentiate between His general and specific will.

First, God has a specific will for the life of every believer. This could include life decisions such as whom we will marry, what job or career we will pursue, and how and where we will live our lives. But it is quite impossible for any of us to discern the specific will of God for another individual since that aspect of the Christian life is personal, intimate, and wholly between God and that person. But what we can ascertain is the general will of God under the new covenant. And that is exactly what today’s passage addresses.

The general will of God is that everyone who beholds and believes in Jesus will have eternal life. These are not separate items as in two requirements that we must fulfill. They both work in tandem. When we behold Jesus (that is to know Him and enjoy fellowship with Him) and believe in Him (trust in His ability to save and redeem us), then we will have eternal life. Jesus spoke similar words when He prayed the following:

This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

                                                                                                            John 17:3 

The very definition of eternal life is found in knowing Jesus. This is not just an intellectual knowledge about God (many people have that) rather it is an intimate knowledge and personal relationship with Jesus Christ. When we have that, we have eternal life.

We can think of this in another way. As Christians, we understand that we are to obey God’s commands. Well the primary command that we have been given is to believe. Consider the following:

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”

                                                                                                               John 6:29 

The very work of God in our lives is that He sent Jesus to fulfill all of the Law and as believers (those who place our trust in Him), we are declared righteous in His sight and have eternal life. This frees us up to love others the way that Christ does (something that we do not always see consistently in our lives). John put it this way:

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

                                                                                                                     1 John 3:23

That is the command of God under the new covenant: to believe in Jesus and to love others (compare to Matthew 22:36-40). When we trust Him completely and love others the way that we are instructed, we live powerful, effective, and abundant lives for Jesus, enjoying the reality that eternal life is ours as well.

So we can say that the will of God is for everyone to know Christ and to place their trust in Him. I believe that is what Jesus was saying when He referred to Himself as the “bread of life.” Consider His words: 

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”

                                                                                                                        John 6:35 

To come to Jesus is to behold Him. And to believe in Him is to understand that He alone is fully capable of saving us and redeeming us from the penalty of sin. He alone is able to remove all of the guilt and shame brought about by the enemy. And He alone is capable of granting us an abundant, uncommon, and extraordinary life, powerful and effective for the kingdom.

Jesus is the bread of life! Just as we must eat to live, we must also feed our souls in order to experience eternal life. How many people long for real life but settle for the things that, in the end, will not satisfy? Just as physical starvation will eventually lead to death, so too does spiritual starvation lead to spiritual death. Jesus is the bread of life. Those that come to Him will not hunger (spiritually) and for those who believe, they will never spiritually thirst.

Are you feeding your soul? Do you know the Savior who satisfies us with every good thing? I do not know what God’s specific will for your life might be but I can say with certainty that His general will is for you to know Him and to experience abundant, eternal life!