Laboring for What Truly Satisfies

Reflection

A few years ago I started a small container garden. It was my first of that scale. I had grown a few plants before, but this time I was determined to do more, even starting some from seed. And even though everything was in containers, there was still work involved. Watering regularly. Checking soil levels. Making sure the plants had enough sunlight. Watching for pests that could quietly destroy what was growing.

Day by day, I checked on my garden. I looked closely at the foliage, searching for anything that might consume it. I pressed my fingers into the soil to see if it needed moisture. Slowly, I began to see the results of my labor. Flowers appeared. Then those flowers turned into fruit. I was amazed. Because of that, I poured even more time and attention into it until I finally enjoyed a small harvest.

But that harvest did not last long.

It was used up quickly, and before I knew it, I was right back to tending the soil again. Ecclesiastes 6:7 says, “All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not satisfied.” There is something about our labor that produces more labor. It keeps going. We work, we gain, we consume, and then we find ourselves empty again.

Of course, we must work. We have responsibilities. We provide for our families and care for daily needs. But it is easy to become so focused on filling our earthly vessels that we give little thought or effort to what is eternal.

That is why Jesus’ words in John 6:27 stop me in my tracks. He does not deny the need for daily provision, but He redirects our attention. He tells us not to labor only for what perishes, but to spend our energy seeking the eternal life that He alone can give.

Isaiah echoes this truth when he asks, “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy?” (Isaiah 55:2). There is a kind of striving that never fills us, no matter how much effort we give it. And then there is the work of trusting Christ, of feeding on Him, of believing what He has already done.

John 6 is a wonderful chapter to read in full. Again and again, Jesus points to Himself as the true bread, the only source that satisfies the deepest hunger of the soul. What He gives does not fade, spoil, or run out. It lasts.