John 13:36 Simon Peter asked him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later."
This is really in my mind a continuation of yesterday’s contemplation. Chambers takes the time to explain something I’d never considered before. When Peter first met Jesus, and Jesus called him to follow, Peter did so easily. Peter’s fascination with this man unlike any other he’d met before was sufficient to seek after Him, if for no other reason than simple human curiosity. But later, around the fire in the courtyard after Christ’s betrayal, he denied knowing him when he was asked if he was his follower – the strength of his human condition failed him miserably. Chambers explains:
“…he had come to the end of himself and all his self-sufficiency, there was not one strand of himself he would ever rely upon again, and in his destitution he was in a fit condition to receive and impartation from the risen Lord.”
If we do not recognize the insufficiency of our human condition, the Lord will remind us of it. Peter claimed to be willing to follow Christ to the cross, but when tested in the courtyard he denied knowing him at all. It was only when he came to the end of himself, when he knew he had to depend entirely upon the Lord that he was able to preach his gospel and ultimately died for his Lord.
We cannot be effective for Christ as long as we are determined to be self-sufficient. God needs all of us – he needs us to depend upon Him at all times. God gets the credit and the glory for everything done in his name. I’ve heard it said “we must always be willing to do God’s will, not our own will in His name.” We must be willing to cast aside our own plans, our own dreams, our own pre-conceived notions and lean wholly upon our Lord in order to allow Him to do His work through us. It is only when we allow ourselves to be mere vessels, pens in his hand, that we can be assured we are doing his work with pure motivation.
How funny -- in the comment I left on yesterday's post, I mentioned preconceived notions -- and then you use that same phrase today! :o)
ReplyDeleteJohn 15 has been much in my mind recently. You mention that we need to recognize the insufficiency of our human condition, which is precisely what John addresses in this chapter. We can do NOTHING without God. We need to constantly remind ourselves (though not in a morbid way) of the depth of meanness in ourselves APART FROM CHRIST.