July 18
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I DO NOTHING ON MY OWN BUT WHAT PLEASES MY FATHER
21 Then He said again to them, “I go away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” 25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning? 26 I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I speak to the world.” 27 They did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him.– John 8:21-30
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Jesus have been revealing many truths to the Jews in this account. He has told them that He was going somewhere they cannot come for He is from above and they are below. It is interesting that many of us, including some believers, think God is like humans. We unknowingly do this when we manipulate God to follow our wishes and wants. We place human attributes to God. We are made in His image, not Him in ours. We are the creatures not the Creator.
The most important revelation from Jesus in this account is that He doesn’t do anything on His own initiative. Everything He does and say are from the Father. How many Christians operate this way? Too often, we don’t consult God on any decisions, small or big. We don’t read, study, meditate or obey His word, so how can we be in sync with His will. How can we do what is pleasing to God when we don’t even know what is true which we can only find in Scriptures? If we constantly want to satisfy our own cravings and desires, how can we honestly say that we are doing and saying what is pleasing to God? We need to depend on God and consult His word. We need to die to our own desires which naturally wants to please the self. We need to abide in Him so we can live.
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REFLECTION
• How is reading and meditating on Scriptures a starting point in pleasing God?