Activity or Accomplishment

Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work. John 4:34

Jesus came to this earth to accomplish a goal. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10 While the theological differences between Jesus and the religious leaders are vast, you do need to make note that Jesus was always moving toward the goal; while the religious leaders were simply going through the motions of routine. Jesus was full of motivation, passion and truth. And the Jews were stubborn, hard hearted and spiritually dead, going through the motions of religion with no real relationship.

Zig Ziglar reminds us that a man or a woman without a goal is like a ship without a rudder. Each will drift and not drive. Each will end up on the beaches of despair, defeat, and despondency.

John Henry Fabre, the great French naturalist, conducted a most unusual experiment with some processionary caterpillars. These caterpillars blindly follow the one in front of them. Hence, the name. Fabre carefully arranged them in a circle around the rim of a flowerpot , so that the lead caterpillar actually touched the last one, making a complete circle. In the center of the flowerpot he put pine needles, which is the food of the processionary caterpillar. The caterpillars started around this circular flowerpot.

Around and around they went, hour after hour, day after day, night after night. For seven full days and seven full nights, they went around the flowerpot. Finally, they dropped dead of starvation and exhaustion. With an abundance of food less than six inches away, they literally starved to death, because they confused activity with accomplishment.

Many people make the same mistake and,as a result, reap only a small fraction of the harvest life has to offer. Despite the fact that untold wealth lies within reach, they acquire very little of it because they blindly, without question, follow the crowd in a circle to nowhere. They follow methods and procedures for no other reason than, "It's always been done that way."

Are you busy with activity or are you busy accomplishing the things of the Lord?