1 Chronicles 7—9, John 6:22-44 Key Verse: John 6:38

“Don’t ask me, I just work here” are words usually spoken by someone wanting to avoid responsibility, not as an expression of submission to authority. The obvious intent is to pass the buck, if not the blame, to someone higher up.

Actually, though, it could be a great statement of submission. If those words were said as an acknowledgment that the person is doing as told, it would reflect an obedient attitude, that of one who is submissive to whomever is in charge.

Unfortunately, we are more prone to sarcasm than submission. Yet God calls us to submission and gives us a model to follow—Jesus.

He said, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (v. 38). Knowing what God wanted Him to do kept Jesus from getting sidetracked. The crowd wanted Him to feed them from now on.

That was their will, but He would not submit to their desires because He was already submitted to the will of the Father. And it is clear that He’ not only knew God’s will but was submitted to it and determined to carry it out.

There was no sarcasm in His voice as He said these words because they came from a submissive heart. What a contrast to the self-serving words of the crowd, who said, “Give us this bread” (v. 34). They were asking for what they wanted.

Do your words come from asubmissive or a self-serving heart? When you pray, which matters most—your will or God’s?

_How serious are you when you pray, “Not my will, but Thine”? Look for submissiveness in your. life. Can you find evidence of it in how you use your time, talents and finances? Read Ephesians 5:21. Do others see this verse in your relationships?_

Woodrow Kroll & Tony Beckett
www.backtothebible.in