Immersed in Christ: March 18, 2021
Thursday of the Fourth Week of Lent
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 106; John 5:31-47
The Father’s Voice Is Recognizable
The works the Father gave me to accomplish…testify… that the Father has sent me... John 5:36
Everything Jesus did was life-giving and showed love. He healed minds through teaching, hearts through forgiveness, and wills by inspiring them to live on the level of God.
What Jesus did was proof enough the Father had sent him. He was doing the kind of work the Father did and wanted done. If any couldn’t recognize that, Jesus said, “They have not known the Father or me” (John 16:3).
Knowing the Father helps us distinguish between true teaching and false. God is love. Any teaching that obscures that is suspect. Every teacher and preacher should be able to say, “The words I speak testify that the Father has sent me.” If any words do not stir us to love, joy, and peace (the “fruit of the Holy Spirit,” Galatians 5:22), we should question them.
But first we should question ourselves. God’s truth comforts the afflicted, but afflicts the comfortable.
Jesus said, “You will know [false prophets] by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15). Works accredit words. A lifestyle that doesn’t impress makes one’s message unimpressive. And ministry that is not remedial is not mandated by the Father.
We don’t judge the Infinite by the restrictive, or God’s greatness by people’s pettiness. Those the Father sends show us the Good, the True and the Beautiful.
ACTION: Whenever teaching repels you, ask whether it is calling you to more or less.
PRAYER: “Father, show me your glory” (Exodus 33:18).
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