JOHN 5:30: “I can do nothing on my own accord. I judge according to what I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.” (ISV)
OBSERVATION: Who’s will am I seeking? As a follower of Christ, do I really walk in His footsteps? It is so much more than simply trying to obey Jesus’ teachings. More than mere obedience, it is endeavoring to capture Jesus’ heart, and His love for the Father. Jesus boldly proclaimed that He did nothing on his own accord. Jesus did not seek His own will. Jesus was fully surrendered to the will of the Father. Am I?
In an honest review of my life, I can see the many times I desired to be surrendered to the will of God. Yet, in reality, it has always been a mixture of desiring God’s will, and wanting Him to approve mine. I have often created a beautifully crafted rubber stamp for God to use, that would give the appearance of His approval for what I wanted to do. This is not capturing the heart of Jesus. This is simply putting a disguise over my stubborn heart. Is there any hope?
Hope comes when I realize that this is my natural tendency. Even Jesus faced this natural tendency in the Garden of Gethsemane. Facing the unfathomable burden of taking on the sin of all of mankind, He asked the Father for “Plan B”. Yet, Jesus stayed true to his heart. He faced this human tendency, but He yielded to His true heart of obedience when He prayed – “Yet, not My will, but Your will be done.”
I realize that I too have this choice each time I find myself at the crossroads of surrender or presumption. Presumption pushes me to forge ahead and try to get God’s approval on the way. Surrender causes me to stop and pray, to be honest with my feelings, and wait to receive God’s direction and will for my life. It is the stopping that I find difficult. As a perpetual “doer”, stopping and waiting are not in my nature. Yet, they need to be a learned discipline if I am to capture Jesus’ heart!
What could happen in and through each one of our lives if we captured the heart of Jesus? How many regrets of our past would have been testimonies of praise, if we would have just waited to discern and discover God’s will for our lives? As I meditate upon these questions, I realize that I cannot do anything about the past, except confess it and receive Jesus’ forgiveness and cleansing. However, today is a new day, and I can do something about my future. Here is how the Apostle Paul expressed it.
- “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” Philippians 3:12-14 NLT
Lord, help me to place the past under the provision of Your blood, and face the future through the power of Your Holy Spirit! Grant me the grace to stop, listen, and discover Your heart, Your will, and Your direction for my life. Help me to be like Jesus in both my motive and in my actions, through the power of Your love within me.
Give me a heart like Jesus!
In Jesus Name!
