The Work of God

John 6:29 King James Version (KJV)

²⁹ Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

I was speaking with someone the other day that told me that their priest was giving a sermon regarding the fact that there are works that lead to a capital S in sainthood and some that lead to a small S. If  works are classified as big or small, I imagine a lot of the works that this world deems as small (usually the every day good old fashioned  works), will possibly lead to discontentment in the body and the comparing of ourselves to on another, rather than simply walking in our individual gifts and allowing them to edify the church as Christ will have it. Jesus has made it clear in the verse above that the work of God is to BELIEVE in the one He sent (Jesus). We need to receive this Truth and the fruit that will come of this belief, will become the  natural works of His Spirit rather than trying to be someone or something that we are not. Be happy with who God made you to be and realize that aside from Him, you can do nothing. Every gift is important to the body of Christ. Even what may appear to be the small and mundane. 

The Polar Express is an awesome movie. Yes, they stage this movie around the false belief in santa but I know the Truth of the matter and so that is where my focus goes. The way that the children use their individual gifts to help each other on their journey and the love that show each other, that is the Spirit of Christ. In the movie, the unnamed main character does not believe in santa because because he has seen what he perceives as substantial evidence to prove otherwise. He finds a train outside of his house late Christmas Eve night at 11:00PM that is headed to the North Pole. The conductor gives him the CHOICE to get on the train or not. He is skeptic but decides to hop on the train and take the journey. There are other children on the train. When the conductor punches their tickets, he use a hole punch and punches a couple of letters on them. They are told that someone will receive the first gift of Christmas at the North Pole. As they take the journey, there is a hobo type man that the main character interacts with. At one point he asks the child was his take on santa was and if he believed in him. He seemed unsure whether to voice his full opinion that santa is not real. He said, "I want to believe butttt"  Then the character asked if he believed in ghosts (Holy Spirit). The kid says no, ( he is most sure of this). Then the character disappears in front of him as a ghost would. When santa enters onto the scene, he has a very bright glow to him that reminds me of the light of the Holy Spirit of Christ and the reindeer have bells all over them that are jingling as the leaping around waiting for santa. In the Old Testament, when the High Priest is in the presence of the Lord, the bells that are on his garment ring. The boy is unable to hear the bells even though the other children can hear them and then they see santa. He cannot see him because there are too many children in the way.  One of the bells breaks loose from the reindeer and though he cannot hear it, the bell rolls over to his feet. He shook the bell and you can hear a voice that says the word doubt as he shakes it. After a couple of times of this, he shook it again three times and exclaimed I believe each time. He hears the bell the third time.  Then you see santa's reflection in the bell right behind him and he says, "what did you say'? The boy yells out, I believe..this is yours".  Santa ends up picking him after going down the line of kids that believed in him to receive the first gift of Christmas (FAVOR). He asks santa for the bell.  He tells him to remember that the bell is only a symbol of Christmas as he is and that the true Spirit of CHRISTmas is in his heart. As they load up to go home,  The conductor punches the rest of the letter's on his ticket. The word is BELIEVE. Once he is on the train, he realizes that he has lost his gift. Imagine his surprise when it was laying beneath his tree the next morning in a small box, as if it were kept for him despite his poor handling of it, placing it in a pocket that had a hole in it, after the conductor (also symbolic of Holy Spirit to me) had warned him to put in a safe place (GRACE). The narrator of the movie who is the little boy as a grown man, makes a point of saying that his parents could not hear the bell at all and his sister and most of his friends heard the bell when he first brought it home but as time went on, none of his friends could hear it and even Sara his sister eventually could not hear it. As for him, it still rang for him as well as the all of those that truly believed.  

I don't know that Tom Hanks planned to have a spiritual meaning behind any of this but I know that God always finds way to get His message through to an open heart. Like the boy in the movie, sometimes it starts by simply hopping on the ride even if we are unsure of the place that it is taking us and even when we do not believe. Christ is our Gift from our Heavenly Father. Once we truly believe, the Gift of His Spirit cannot be taken from us against our will or through our mistakes. You see He already chose us for the gift. This is not because of anything that we have done besides BELIEVE in the work of His Son on the Cross. Don't be discouraged if you find yourself in a state of unbelief. Like the boy in the movie and Paul in the Bible, He uses these situations to glorify the power of God ( SPIRIT) and the worst of us can become the greatest in His Kingdom. All we have to do is seek Him with all of our heart.

When you look at the picture below, imagine that it is Christ rather than santa entrusting you with your gifts. 

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A great article from Spurgeon regarding the works of the Spirit: 

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0178.htm