Jesus said his food was to do the Father’s will, and to complete the Father’s mission. (personal paraphrase)
He meant that he gained life by living in agreement with the Father. He lived in agreement with the purpose, and design, of the world.
But he also lived in agreement with the Father’s mission. He lived in agreement with what the Father was trying to accomplish in the world. His heart agreed with the Father’s heart.
What was on the Father’s heart? What is on the Father’s heart?
There are a lot of ways to understand the Father’s mission, and the Father’s heart. One way is to say he intends to build, and complete, his family.
There are people, who he has declared to be his children. And he wants them to live as his children. And there are a few different results of this.
One, they act as his children. They choose to live in agreement with God’s design. They choose love as the primary value. And, as they choose, they are changed, and live closer, and closer to how Jesus lived.
Two, they have a self-image as his children. Children are loved, and accepted, for who they are, and what they are. Faults and deficiencies are not ignored. A father’s heart envisions, encourages, and trains the best decisions and lifestyles. But acceptance, and love, are not given on the basis of how completely one accepts the design plan(*) nor how faithfully, thoroughly, and completely one keeps, and practices the design plan.(*)
God declares: I love you. You are my child. I want you with me forever, so that I can demonstrate my love, and favor, top you. But you would live the best life, if you followed my plan as closely as possible.
Three, they have the same heart as the Father. They want what the Father wants. They are motivated by what motivates the Father.
Father wants a family. He wants close relationship with his children. He want his children to have close relationships with one another. And the original plan, it was intended for all mankind, every single person ever born, to be part of that family.
Mankind chose, and continues to choose, to reject relationship with Father. So, mankind is cut off from God.
So, Father planned to bring people back into his family.
And Jesus was born into the world, and chose to go to the Cross, to bring anyone, who gives allegiance to the Father, Son and Spirit, into God’s family.
So, if we have Father’s heart, we will want what he wants. We will want God’s children to walk in agreement with God’s design. We will want God’s children to See themselves as God sees them. (Accepted, loved, and chosen.) And we will want an ever increasing growth in the number of people in God’s family.
(*) I almost on accident coined a new term: design plan. I am trying to express the life lived in agreement with the Father. “Design” refers to the principles and structures built into the fabric of the world. “Plan” refers to the individual expression of the design. All buildings must deal with gravity, weather, and be suitable for people. But buildings are different: stores, houses,
