Your success in life's race depends on your reason for running. One of Aesop's fables tells of a dog that stumbled upon a hare. Swift and determined, the hound chased the hare over many miles. Finally, the hound gave up in exhaustion. Seeing the race, a by-stander praised the hero-hare. He mocked the loser. Indignantly the hound replied, "You forget that it is one thing to run for your dinner and another to run for your life."
Many people are "running for their dinner." They are smart and driven. Yet they are pursuing just one more job to pay the bills. Their highest goal is to provide for the body's needs and pleasures. "'Let us eat and drink,' you say, 'for tomorrow we die!'" While this quote sounds like a beer commercial, it actually comes from the Old Testament prophet Isaiah (22:13). He is describing a pervasive view of life in both his day and our own. As many discover the hard way, this worn out view of life is empty and meaningless.
Our bodies will fail and fail far too soon. "You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes" (James 4:14). What business person would invest in a market he knows to be rapidly and finally declining? Yet that same shrewd investor forgets the greatest truth about profit and loss. "What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Matthew 16:26).
Jesus encourages you in your search when he advises, "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life" (John 6:27). Don't run for your dinner, run for your life!
While on earth, food was about the last thing on the mind of Jesus. He begins His special work by fasting for forty days (Luke 4:2). Later, He turns down the offer of a much-needed meal. Why? "My food," He answers, "is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work" (John 4:34).
The will of God! This alone fills and satisfies Jesus. He craves soul satisfaction as a starving man craves food. He calls us to have this same priority in our lives: "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:31-33).
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What business person would invest in a market he knows to be rapidly and finally declining?
Excellent statement! I have written that in the margin of my Bible, next to Matt. 16:26.
"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well" (Matthew 6:31-33).
I think that could be considered the secret to a happy life.
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