Doing the work of believing

There is this scripture:Joh 6:27 Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. Why would Jesus say that believing on him would be considered work?What is work in believing?

Why would Jesus say that believing on him would be considered work? They were seeking the method. What shall we do in order that we may... But doing the will of God begins with a response to what we know He has already said to us. In this case 'to believe on the sent one'. No doubt they aspired to being 'sent' to accomplish great things but we must 'come' before we can 'go'.

But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. (John 5:17)In light of this scripture we can say that the work of the Father is to cause man to believe on the One He sent. Behind each of His dealings with us, His purpose is that we may believe in Jesus Christ. Our part is to respond.

Why would Jesus say that believing on him would be considered work?Is not the answer to this question contained in the preceeding verses, "Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for that meat which enduerth?"What is the meat? What is the food? Christ is the Bread of heaven. Jesus said, "unless you eat My flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself... My words are spirit and life".We labor to obtain this Food and to eat it and assimilate it. We labor by calling on the Lord, by feeding on Him in His Word, and by assimilating Him as our indwelling Life. This Life within us strengthens us to lay hold on Him, to enjoy Him and to live by Him. This is our faith (Ephesians 3:17,18)It is only by eating Christ and being constituted with Him that we "grow up in all things into Christ who is the Head".In Exodus, the Children of Isreal had to begin to eat the daily manna to be reconstituted with the heavenly food before they could begin to build God's dwelling place, the tabernacle. Thier labor was to rise early each day and gather the Manna and eat it. This was their work. Our labor is the same. We labor each day, each morning, to obtain this heavenly food, and to eat it and by this we are constituted with His riches.It is only by being constituted with the riches of Christ that we are qualified to labor with Him in His Work which is to build up His body which is "the dwelling place of God in spirit" by begetting and constituting Christ into others.If we don't have the precious materials of Gold, Silver, and precious stones ourselves, we have nothing to build with. We have only knowlege and our natural talents. And these are wood, hay, and stubble.Our work is to labor to obtain and eat this heavenly food. And this constitutes us with Christ and qualifies us to be His co-laborers in His work of building up His Body.And so, in essense, our work is to believe into Christ. Our labor is to eat Him, take Him in, assimilate Him as Life and in so doing He becomes our faith. Our labor is to believe into Him in all things.Graftedbranch