“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38)

This was Jesus’ guiding principle for His whole life on earth: He did not come here — even as One who was fully God! — to exercise His own will and to do as He pleased. He came rather to do the will of the Father, instead of His own. This should guide our own commitment as well. 

This verse is a reminder that we are not here to do our own will — not with the course of our life in totality, and not on any particular day. As a Christian, we have surrendered our will to God’s. So it is not “what do you want to do with your life”, but rather “What has GOD designed for me to do with my life?” On a given day the question is not to be “What do I feel like doing today?” but “What is Your will for me today?”

That is not our natural inclination. Our wills have been corrupted by sin, and as a consequence we each naturally seek our own will, not God’s. Jesus knew this, and that is why He taught us to begin each day in prayer, asking “Thy will be done.” Each day we need to re-align ourselves with God’s purposes and His will for us — whether we “feel like” doing it or not. Thus in a sense, we should begin each day with a “Daily Gethsemane”: “Not my will but Thine” be done today.  This underscores, again, the need for a follower of Christ to have a time of prayer in the morning, so that we can make that recommitment to God’s will each day.

And that of course includes THIS day!  Today and every day we need to recommit ourselves to GOD’S purpose and will. It is never to be: “What do I want to do today?”, but “What is YOUR will for me today?”  Like Jesus in John 6, we are not here to do our own will, but the will of Him who sent us.