Do you really Believe Jesus tells the Truth?

John 5:30-36

This morning I pondered these thoughts: How would your life and mine be different if we believed Jesus tells the truth?  How would your life and mine be different if we sought the will of God and His plan that was established for us before time began?  At the writing of this I’m nine years older than my dad at his death, to the best of my knowledge I’m in great health, and looking forward to finishing this race or God’s plan in a manner that would be pleasing to Him.  But this morning as I read these words from Jesus, it became clear that’s not the message that I heard at home, at school, in the army, or in the work place.  But if I had believed the words of Jesus, the message has never changed, it has always been; “ I can do nothing on my own.” 

If we ponder those seven simple words, and give thought to the one who said them, you have to be in awe of them, or you do not believe them.  My first thought was do I believe that God cannot lie?  The Bible speaks to this in many places and you will find that it is impossible for God to lie.  You can look at Titus 1:2, Hebrews 6:18, 2 Samuel 7:28, or you might turn to John 18:37 to see Jesus testifying before the Roman ruler Pilate; “You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world – to bear witness to the truth, we must look at who said, “I can do nothing on my own.”   In the gospel of John 1:3, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”  It sound like Jesus Christ is the Creator, and in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae, Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.” 

The Creator, Jesus Christ, has said something that goes against our worldview, against the teaching of most parents, most schools, and most higher learning, most businesses, and without a doubt our society.  The seven words, “I can do nothing on my own.”  This will challenge your worldview, and the way you were taught to think, but if Jesus could do nothing on His own and went to His Father for all things, how foolish are we as mere men to do otherwise than our Lord.

My second question is; how would your life and mine be different if we sought the will of God and His plan?  In John 5:36, we find these words, “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.”  I have come to understand that God has a plan for each and everyone of us, and that His plan for me cannot be done by anyone else.  If someone takes my place then they leave a vacuum in the plan God has for them.  Most of what we have been taught by our culture is a lie when it comes to your role in this life on planet earth.
Blaise Pascal observed, "We are never living, but hoping to live; and whilst we are always preparing to be happy, it is certain, we never shall be so, if we aspire to no other happiness than what can be enjoyed in this life."  From the beginning God’s plan was for mankind to work and work brings about fulfillment, but our culture has been telling us from childhood that work is not to be enjoyed, that leisure will bring about happiness.

The prophet Jeremiah, speaking under the direction of the Spirit states: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) Nowhere does it say that your work is based on education, your social status, or any of the other things our culture says, it is based totally on the plan God has for each of us.  So as a guy who has been between jobs for five years, if God tells the truth, and He does, then I must find a quiet place and ask the Lord to show me the plan He has for me.   Do not limit God’s plan for you based on human teachings!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice