March 12

John 5:19 & 20

“I tell you the truth, 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. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.

Don’t you feel a little silly sometimes when you consider this scripture? I mean, if the Son of God, if Jesus Himself, says, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself,” shouldn’t that be a clue to us who are only human?  Sure, Jesus was human like us, but, unlike us, He was also God.  Yet He was dependent on the Father, just like we should be.

God gives us examples just like He gave Jesus:  “he can do only what he sees his Father doing.”  What do you see the Father doing in your life, in the life of others? Probably things like growing them into greater roles in the Kingdom, loving His creation and providing for the needs of those He loves.

Then He even tells us why:  “For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.” Do you remember who else the Father loves?  John 3:16 says He loves you; you’re part of the world, aren’t you?  How cool is that, that God loves you too, just like He loves His Son?  He is going to show you all He does, like the Son, in fact, “to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.”

On this day open your eyes to all the Father is doing in you and around you, and you can be amazed at this glorious, loving God who raises what was dead into a new life with Him.

Father, help us to see your presence in all we do for this day, In Jesus Name, Amen.

Dialog discuss: Have you ever thought about this? The principle beneficiaries of the money absorbed and dispensed by government are not poor blacks in ghettos or Appalachian whites or elderly pensioners receiving Social Security checks…The major beneficiaries, instead, are the employees of government itself– the two richest counties in the United States are Montgomery County Maryland, and Fairfax County, Virginia–principal bedroom communities for Federal Workers in Washington D.C. Ronald Nash, referring to the statement of the prominent black economist Walter E. Williams, that in 1979 the U.S. was spending $250 billion annually “just to fight poverty,” responds: “Had this amount of money been distributed equally to all families below the poverty level, each of them would have received an annual payment of $34,000.” – M Stanton Evans and Walter E. Williams quoted by Ron Nash in Economic Justice and the State