Thy Will and My Will

If there is one thing that Jesus stresses over and over again, throughout all of the New Testament Gospels, it is the absolute supremacy of adhering to God the Father’s will. Not only did Jesus highlight this desired focus in the prayer where Jesus taught us how to pray in Matthew 6:9-10, but Jesus Himself showcased this necessity in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42) where Jesus said “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.”

But of course, there is more. Jesus also reiterates time and time again, that literally everything that He did, be it in word, judgement or action, was in accordance with His Father’s will (John 5:30).

Actually, John 5:30 bears repeating: “I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me.” And it isn’t a coincidence that as per Jesus’ imperative to do the will of the Father, that Jesus tells us that without Him, we also can do nothing (John 15:5). The direction of flow is unmistakeable. God the Father is the vine dresser, Jesus is the true vine and we who believe and trust in Jesus are the branches on the true vine (John 15:1-5).

And the divine objective? That would be bearing fruit, according to the will and purposes of the Father. Bearing fruit is the rubber hits the road part, isn’t it? How exactly are we to accomplish that? Well, Jesus answers that question for us through His commandments. And how many commandments did Jesus actually give us? Gotquestions.org responds to that question and you can view their answer here.

The thing is, as I view the many commandments that Jesus gave us to adhere to, much like the many requirements of the Old Testament Law, I note pretty quickly that I have in the past, while being a Christian, and even sometimes now, being a tad more mature, fallen short of all that Jesus directs me to do.

I know I am to aspire to being holy like our heavenly Father is holy, but sometimes my will, either consciously or unconsciously, takes priority, over God’s expressed will, and I fall short of fulfilling His will over my own. Sometimes what I have done wrong is clear for all to see and sometimes it is more subtle, where God reminds me how I left Him behind. And when I become aware of that shortfall, it grieves me and if I have wronged someone, I do what it takes to make right that wrong and I ask for God’s forgiveness. And I am forgiven because of my faith and trust in the righteousness I have in Jesus, because He and He alone, STILL stands alone.

God is light and His light reveals the darkness (selfishness, wrong motives, pride, etc) that dwells within. And the closer we get to that light, the more darkness there is that is dispelled. And yet, in spite of all of this, that progressively continues, God’s grace and love, conquers it all. And all of it is directly attributed to God’s sheer grace, expressed in the person of His only begotten Son, Jesus. God the Father is the source of all goodness and God the Father sent us His Son.

2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NASB
“but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Worthy is the Lamb! Blessings!