#DailyDevotion Do You Trust In Jesus Just For This Life Or For Eternal Life?

John 6: 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

In the previous Gospel lesson the work of God was to believe in one whom God had sent. That work is to believe. Now Jesus introduces another term “come to me.” When you come to Jesus you will not hunger. Coming to Jesus is paralleled by “believes in me.” To come to Jesus is to believe in Jesus that is to trust Jesus. Now who will come to Jesus? Only those who are given to Jesus by the Father. Those whom the Father gives to Jesus, Jesus gives himself to as the bread of life. Now such people Jesus will never cast out. The Father draws us to Jesus through the proclamation of forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life in Jesus. We know he has drawn us when he puts his name on us in baptism. Just like when we went to camp as kids or going off to school and we put our name on those objects that belong to us, Jesus puts his name on all those the Father has given to him.

Now as we come to Jesus, Jesus has come down from heaven for us. He came to do the will of the Father, to be the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He promises us that all those given to him by the Father he will never lose but will raise them up to eternal life on the last day. Now how do you know you are such a one? Are you baptized? Do you gather together with his body the Church to hear his Word and receive his sacraments? Such ones can be certain they indeed are those given to Christ. They are where Christ promised to be and where he promises to preserve us in the faith unto life everlasting.

Now we come to another phrase, “looks on the Son.” Looking on the Son is the same as believing on the Son namely Jesus Christ. Jesus said in chapter 3 he will be lifted up as Moses lifted up the bronze serpent. As those who looked upon the bronze serpent and lived, those who look to Jesus Christ and him crucified will be saved as well. To look on Jesus is to believe he was the sacrificial lamb of God who has taken your sin away and reconciled you to God the Father. To those who loon on Jesus, i.e. believe in what Jesus has done for them, Jesus promises he will raise them up on the last day to eternal life.

So now we have “labor for,” “come to” and “look on” Jesus all refer to believing in Jesus, trusting in him for eternal life on the day of the resurrection. This gift of eternal life last forever. It does not fade, rust, decay or in any spoiled and it last forever. Yet many people will turn their back on Jesus if they don’t get their way today, if God doesn’t answer their prayers exactly how they want him to.  They hope is for this life only and they are most to be pitied. But we endure all things for the prize that is eternal kept safe for us in heaven.

Heavenly Father, draw us to your Son Jesus Christ that we may believe in him and preserve in this faith unto life everlasting through your Word and Sacraments. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.