October 3 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

When a commando unit has landed inside the territory of the enemy, it doesn't go on a sightseeing tour. It has to accomplish its mission and return to the base.

Jesus spoke of his actions in a similar way. He lived to obey the orders of the One who sent him. He had to accomplish a mission. He could not be distracted from his single goal. After doing the will of his Sender, he would go and report to the Father: "Mission accomplished."

On this particular day, Jesus was sitting at the well, tired after a long journey (v. 6). The disciples had gotten food, and they urged Jesus to eat some. But Christ made it clear that he had more important things on his mind. He was intent on doing the Father's will.

The kingdom of God was coming to Samaria! Christ had just offered the water of life to a sinful woman. While he was sitting at the well, Jesus saw a vision of the harvest fields in which his disciples would be the reapers. There was such joy in this contemplation of his Father's will and his Father's work that all other things were unimportant.

When we learn to know this joy of the Lord, we will pay less attention to the things everybody else deems important and more attention to the things that enthralled Jesus Christ.

We are often inclined to make a big fuss about such little things as eating and drinking. But we must learn to distinguish between the things that are really important and the things that are trivial. That's a big part of Christian living. Once we have our priorities straight, doing God's will and sharing in God's work will be high on our list. Then we will also be closer to our Master.

As long as we have not tasted the Master's "food," we don't know him very well.

REFLECTIONS

"We are often inclined to make a big fuss about little things." What "little things" tend to distract you from "doing God's will and sharing in God's work"?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.