Stop Striving, Start Trusting
Scripture
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:25–29 (NIV)
This passage follows the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, where Jesus took a few loaves and fish and satisfied the hunger of a massive crowd. Now, those same people are chasing Him down, but Jesus confronts their motives. “You’re not following Me because of the signs that reveal who I am. You’re following Me because you want more bread.”
Then He points them to a deeper reality: “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life.” In other words, don’t waste your life striving after what is temporary and fading. Set your heart on what lasts forever, eternal life, which only the Son can give.
The crowd’s response is telling: “What must we do to do the works God requires?” They immediately default to effort, to performance, to religion. But Jesus flips the script. It’s not about what you can do for God, it’s about trusting in what God has already done for you. The only “work” that matters is faith: “to believe in the one He has sent.”
“Grace is not opposed to effort, it is opposed to earning. Earning is an attitude. Effort is an action.”¹
—Dallas Willard, The Great Omission
That’s the distinction the crowd missed, and the one we often miss too. We think God is impressed with our striving, our religious activity, our good works. Yet the heart of the gospel is not about earning but receiving. To believe in Jesus is to rest in His finished work, to trust His love and grace, and to follow Him not for what He gives but for who He is. So today, trade the exhausting attitude of earning for the simple, settled trust of receiving, and let your life be marked by faith rather than striving.
Reflection
- Where in your life do you find yourself striving to earn God’s approval instead of resting in His grace?
- What “food that spoils” are you tempted to chase after, and how might you redirect your focus to what endures?
- How does believing in Jesus change not just your eternal future but also how you live each day now?
Prayer
Ask God to help you trust fully in Jesus instead of your own efforts. Pray for freedom from striving, for contentment in His provision, and for a heart that desires Him above all else.
Footnote:
¹ Dallas Willard, The Great Omission: Reclaiming Jesus’s Essential Teachings on Discipleship (New York: HarperOne, 2006), 61.