Word for Today - 13 Feb 2025
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“The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.” John 5:19 NIV
Intimacy, dependency, obedience (2)
The second thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father is this: dependency. Corrie ten Boom used to say, “I am just the glove, Jesus is the hand that fills it and works through it.” That’s a picture of Christ’s relationship with His heavenly Father, and it’s a blueprint for the kind of relationship you can have with God. In the Bible you will notice two all-important things about Jesus: (1) He never seemed to suffer from the fear of failing, like we so often do. Why? Because He prayed regularly and got direction from His Father. Knowing He was acting on the Father’s word and operating in the Father’s will, He never doubted. Until you have heard from God, you are a question mark. But once you have heard from God, you are an exclamation mark. (2) Jesus knew He couldn’t accomplish anything of significance without His Father’s direction and power, so He never attempted to. We, on the other hand, say we trust God but act like everything depends on us. And the result? We fall flat on our faces and keep wondering why. Every action of God in your life is intended to increase, not decrease, your dependence on Him. Someone wisely said, “You’ll never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you’ve got.” To bring you to the place of total dependence on Himself, God will allow your ego to be crushed and your self-sufficiency to be stripped away. At that point you make a life-changing discovery: When you have nothing left but God—God is enough!
Intimacy, dependency, obedience (2)
The second thing that defines Jesus’ relationship with His Father is this: dependency. Corrie ten Boom used to say, “I am just the glove, Jesus is the hand that fills it and works through it.” That’s a picture of Christ’s relationship with His heavenly Father, and it’s a blueprint for the kind of relationship you can have with God. In the Bible you will notice two all-important things about Jesus: (1) He never seemed to suffer from the fear of failing, like we so often do. Why? Because He prayed regularly and got direction from His Father. Knowing He was acting on the Father’s word and operating in the Father’s will, He never doubted. Until you have heard from God, you are a question mark. But once you have heard from God, you are an exclamation mark. (2) Jesus knew He couldn’t accomplish anything of significance without His Father’s direction and power, so He never attempted to. We, on the other hand, say we trust God but act like everything depends on us. And the result? We fall flat on our faces and keep wondering why. Every action of God in your life is intended to increase, not decrease, your dependence on Him. Someone wisely said, “You’ll never know that Christ is all you need until Christ is all you’ve got.” To bring you to the place of total dependence on Himself, God will allow your ego to be crushed and your self-sufficiency to be stripped away. At that point you make a life-changing discovery: When you have nothing left but God—God is enough!
