Relying on God Alone

I'm a little rusty as far as blogging goes.  Its been a few months!  Here's a passage from John 5 that struck me recently.  This is Jesus speaking:

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

This struck me because it helps me to understand and know what it means to be a Christian.  Here Jesus even states, "I can do nothing on my own."  Jesus Christ, the Son of God can do nothing without the will and help of the Father.  He follows that statement with, "I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me."  Throughout the gospels we see Jesus heal the sick, feed thousands of people with just 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, he raises people from the dead and if that's not enough he walks on water and calms the storms.  And here in John, Jesus admits, "I can do nothing on my own."  The miracles we see done by Jesus are not done alone by the man Jesus, they are done by the will of the Father.  So how can we humans sit and think we can save ourselves?  If the Son of God is nothing without the Father, how are we anything without the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?

I believe Jesus answers this for us here in verse 38, "And you do not have his word abiding in you." And in verse 42, "But I know that you do not have the love of God within you." There are so many times we say we are Christian because we believe in the story of Jesus.  But the question we have to ask ourselves is this: does the Word of God abide in our hearts, souls and minds?  Does the Word and Love of God radiate from our being?  We are so quick to trust in our own human abilities.  We think 'I give to the church, I'm a good person, I've done my good deeds' but none of that gets us God.  The simple but crazy thing to wrap our human brains around is that we need God to get God.  Living and breathing the Word of God gives God glory.  But of course there is a twist to this as well.   

In verse 41 Jesus states, "I do not receive glory from people," I have to admit I chuckle at this a little bit because we forget that God doesn't need us.  God gets glory out of his own will and purposes. Our good deeds are not our own.   Ephesians 2:8-10 states, "8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  Here Paul is stating that even our faith in God is given to us by God, we cannot boast in our faith or our works because even our good works are prepared by the hand of God.

So going back to how this reminds me of what is means to be a Christian: And I need the love and Word of God to consume my life, without God I am nothing.  I don't think it gets any easier than that.  I thank and praise God for his abundance of mercy and grace that he bestows on my life daily.