There was this conversation taking place between a friend and I.
We were going through the things we believe we could not live without. To make things fair, we agreed to consider how things have changed in our lives from, twenty-five, twenty, fifteen and five years ago as well as today.
You’d be fascinated to know the things I put on that list. I’m sure I’ll get round to sharing the list on today. Looking at the list of things I couldn’t live without twenty-five years ago was really embarrassing. Put it this way, although we can all agree that food is very important, there were some foodstuffs I was mentioning that if I ate as much now as I did then … well the sugar levels would be off the charts.
My friend then referred to what was on Jesus’ list,
Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19 NLT)
It challenged me to consider the Saviour of the World and the King of all Creation essentially saying He was completely dependent on His Father. He had no problem insisting that He’s only doing what He’s directed to do. You read that piece of speech further and see that the basis of that is the close relationship Father and Son has – trust and submission. Themes that might be worth exploring later …
As well as that, Jesus had a word of advice for all those who would follow Him.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 NLT)
The challenges deepens then to truly consider if life is nothing without Christ. If the relationship He embodies between Father and Son is something that can be seen in my relationship with Him.
Over those twenty-five years where I’ve made the claim to follow Jesus, there have been a number of episodes where He got me to really see if it’s Him I depend on. Painful times of exposure where I discovered what really were some of my drivers in life. The tragedy of it being that those good things only got their quality in the light of Him and if I put them in His place, things got twisted, distorted and corrupted.
Necessary lessons of learning that it remains essential to learn that without Christ I am nothing. I need Him. I depend on Him. That’s not anything to be ashamed of – that’s something to grow to appreciate all the more as we look at who He is.
(Photo by Ravi Roshan on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 