No matter how unjust and painful it was, Jesus’ life on earth culminated in His crucifixion and death as per the Father’s will. Speaking about Jesus’ suffering, Isaiah 53:10 states:

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Jesus’ suffering and death was not an accident or coincidence but the culmination of God’s will for His life. Jesus knew this was the entire reason why He came into the world in the first place. It was in His crushing and offering of His soul for the guilt of many that the will of The Lord prospered in His hands.

John 12:7
“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.

The Lord did not shy away or shrink back from God’s ultimate purpose for His life even in the face of anxiety and distress. For Jesus, The Father’s will trumped everything else – even His own comfort and desires. Mark 14:36
And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

There was a steely and unwavering determination to see The Father’s will right through to the bitter end, no matter what the cost. Throughout His life, The Lord Jesus did not give priority or preference to His own desires but the Father’s. So when it came to the most difficult and testing moment of His life, The Lord stayed focused on and prioritised The Father’s will over everything else. Jesus was squarely centred and focused on God’s will for His life.

Are you centred and focused on God’s will for your life?

The Lord was able to remain intensely focused on His Father’s mission and purpose for His life on earth by staying in close communion with Him and making choices that aligned with His mission – as opposed to seeking His convenience, comfort or popularity.

The Lord started (and completed) His ministry anchored in communion with The Father and guided by His earthly mission. Jesus’ life was routinely anchored in communion with The Father and supremely guided by His life mission. He was therefore able to stay firmly on course to His destiny. He did not put a foot wrong as He progressed in His life and ministry all the way to His crucifixion – Mark 1:35 – 38
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.”

There was a clarity of purpose The Lord had that his disciples seemed clueless about.

Jesus departed to pray early in the morning after the night before which was considerably exhausting. Here’s what happened the night before in Mark 1:32 – 34
That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons.

The whole city was gathered together at the door of the place He was staying. All who were sick or oppressed by demons were brought to Him so He engaged in healing the sick and driving out demons for as long as it took. Yet the following morning the Lord did not fail to get up early to depart to a desolate place to pray: communion with The Father was vital and indispensable if He was to successfully carry out God’s will and accomplish His purpose. It was irreplaceable.

Communion with The Father afforded Jesus time and space for rest, reflection and restoration creating clarity of mind and purpose for the task ahead. That’s exactly what prayer does for us too even today. It offers us rest and restoration but reflection and direction for what lies ahead too.

Jesus’ life was guided by His mission similar to precision-guided missiles in modern warfare. Such was The Lord’s determination that He did not allow anything else – even demand for His services and transient popularity with people – to distract and divert Him from His God-given mission. Christ’s determination to stay on God’s chartered course for Him in the face of intense opposition and severe humiliation is vividly portrayed for us in Isaiah 50:6 – 7 over 700 years before His arrival –

I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.

But the Lord GOD helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.

The Lord readily accepted the suffering and humiliation that came with the mission, without batting an eyelid, fully trusting in The Father.

Even though none of us is called to suffer anywhere near what Christ suffered, we are nonetheless called to show and demonstrate the same kind of determination that Christ did if we too are to accomplish God’s will for our lives. Hebrews 12:2 says we’re to run our race, “… looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” We are to also, “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.” (Hebrews 12:23)

It is to Jesus we are to look and Him we are to consider if we too are to succeed in accomplishing the work God has set for us and take our designated places in heaven.

Accomplishing God’s will on earth is not a matter of making it to heaven or not but about receiving our heavenly reward or not.

John 17:4 “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”
The Lord was able to categorically claim that He accomplished the work The Father gave Him to do. And if we too are to bring any glory to God with our lives, it is by accomplishing the work He’s set for us to do – not random, ad hoc works but specific ones, “God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Ephesians 2:10
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Jesus life was not just one lived in the Father’s will but culminated in it too. The will of God in our lives too is not a hit and miss affair. Never. Not at all. The devil would have us believe it is so but the devil would have Jesus believe the same too but he did not. We are called to look to Jesus and consider Him for this very reason – so that our lives would not be hit and miss but lived in and for the will of God our Father.

There’s no better or greater agenda you’ll ever serve with your life.
You have come into this world by design, God’s design, to follow in the footsteps of Christ and to emulate Him.
The entire reason, the whole purpose, of Jesus’ very life on earth was the Father’s will.
The reason why you stepped into this world too is to fulfill the Father’s will.

Does God’s will and purpose for your life occupy prime position in your mind and decision-making process?
Does it feature prominently? Or not at all?

Do you rate it highly enough to afford it sufficient time and space in your life to ring fence your connection and time with God at the expense of everything else just like Christ did?

We all have one shot to get this right – one life to accomplish God’s purposes with.

Let’s use it wisely and to His glory.

Keep looking to Jesus. Keep considering Him and you’ll never ran out of steam.