I was reading this morning from the Gospel of John. In John 1:47-51 there is a story about Nathanael going to meet Jesus. Nathanael is approaching Jesus and Jesus says, "Here comes an honest man - a true son of Israel." Nathanael is taken back and little confused, "How do you know about me?" Jesus then informs Nathanael that he had seen him under the fig tree before Philip found him to bring him to meet Jesus. Nathanael is amazed at this and says to Jesus, "Teacher, you are the Son of God - the King of Israel!"
What Jesus says next is something I believe he would say to a lot of us today. Jesus says, "Do you believe this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this." In other words, "Philip, you are impressed with this, yet this is not even a tenth of my power that can be displayed." Jesus is trying to let Philip know that even though he is impressed with this display of knowledge and power, if he settles for this being the extent of Jesus' power, then he is missing it.
How often do we settle for small things in our lives because we've reduced Jesus' power to simply being about "knowing our sin" or "dying for us" or "loving the unlovable?" These are all good things to understand about Jesus' nature and character, but we must realize that there is so much power in Christ that can and should be displayed in our lives, but we are often the reason it is not. We sell Jesus short. We become like Nathanael. Instead, choose today to explore the possibility that Jesus wants to display more power in your life than you were aware was possible. Give him your needs. Tell him your dreams. Offer up your life. You may here the words of Jesus spoken back to you, "You will see greater things than this."
Hi Erik,not trying to be a smart-aleck,but have been thinking about what you said re:"handcuffing" the power of God in our lives with the post you had earlier about how we fashion God(that thought goes with the sermon you had a few weeks ago where we tend to think God exists for us instead of the other way around).
ReplyDeleteAll that being said are we so mighty that we can limit the power of God?
That's a mind bender like the concept of the glass being half full vs half empty.
Rather than saying we limit God,maybe we should say we limit ourselves.
I propose we cannot reduce Jesus' power, but we reduce ourselves and our own usefulness.
Think of a heart artery and the blood that flows through the veins sustains life,gives the body strength to function... Say there is a blockage(sin)and the flow of blood is constricted and the person becomes weak,sick and eventually dies.The blood didn't change, but the size of the artery did and it limited the benefit of the blood.
When we got saved we were indwelled by the spirit of God. That was a one time act and it's permament. But the filling is where we submit to service.
If you can picture a clay pot;we clean out our "vessal" and mend the cracks,then Jesus is able to use us and fill us to overflowing if we desire.
So maybe the question should be what size vessel we want to be. Small,medium or super-size?
Just thinking.