Jesus lived in perfect obedience to the will of the Father. He said, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.” John 8:28a-29.
Imagine, the One Man who had the right to His own opinion, Jesu, Who is Himself God, He lived in perfect obedience to the will of the Father.
His desire was to live in perfect obedience and model this as the way we should live: perfect obedience to the will of the Father is the way Jesus wants us to live.
Some may say (or even scoff… pridefully… “This is impossible! This is Jesus. He is perfect. He is God!” You are right. But when has our impossibility ever stopped God asking us to do the impossible? It’s humility that accepts God’s impossible ask.
Jesus, while being fully God, took on human form and emptied Himself, Philippians 2:7, of His own divine power so He could model for us a human life fully yielded to, empowered and led by Holy Spirit. And just as Jesus said, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught Me… for I always do what pleases Him…” He wants us to be able to say the same.
I am not confident in my own ability to live in perfect obedience. I cannot. My own efforts are filthy rags, Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10. I cannot work, sweat, give, or strive enough to perfect me. So I must stop looking at me, stop all the self-evaluation and self-improvement pep talks, and turn my full attention to the perfect One, Jesus.
2 Corinthians 3:18 says, we… beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same (perfect) image… this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. Holy Spirit transforms us into the very image of Jesus. Holy Spirit empowers and leads us into perfect obedience to the will of the Father as we continue to behold Jesus: when we turn our full attention to Him.
I cannot perfect me, but He is (fully) able… and His power is at work within (me) us, Ephesians 3:20.
In John 8:29, Jesus says, the One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, this continual awareness of God’s presence only happens through intimacy. Never presumption. Only intimacy.
God longs for intimacy with us. There are no shortcuts to intimacy. It is through our daily commitment to this relationship that we hear His voice, yield to His will, and respond with confident obedience. This is the how Holy Spirit leads us to obedience, and we can say, I always do what pleases Him, John 8:29, just as Jesus did.
When Jesus said, I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do, John 17:4, He was saying, success in God is complete obedience to God, alone. Nothing more, but definitely nothing less.
It’s no small thing that God, our good Father, asks us to live the same way Jesus did. We cannot do this in the flesh, but, by living empowered and led by Holy Spirit, we can. God never asks us to do something He doesn’t also supply the supernatural strength we need to do it.
God wants us to confidently say, “I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught Me. The One who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him,” John 8:28a-29.
Yield to Him today, stop striving, and ask for His great help. He gives it generously…
Our lives bring glory to God by living in perfect obedience to the will of the Father.
