You Talking to Me? – Part 48

Some commands Jesus gave are hard for the natural mind to grasp; “You talking to me?” moments.

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Genesis 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 14, 20, 21, 24, 26, & 28 – And God said . . .

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John 14:12 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”   Today we continue to look into one of the strongest “You talking to me?” provoking passages in God’s Word.  But the question arises, “Why does it provoke such thinking so powerfully in the minds of believers?  The answer is really quite simple, and at the same time, quite profound.  It all has to do with thinking.  That is one of the reasons I pen the words so often to “think” about a particular thing.  We have been given the mind of Christ.  We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.  We have been told what things we are to hold in our minds as anchors to our thoughts.  We are commanded to bring “every thought into the obedience” of Christ.  Yet, with all these commands in Scripture, far too many Christians are still bound by their old form of natural thinking that will inevitably bring the believer into conflict with himself as the Word of God enlightens one path, but the soul (mind, will, intellect, and emotions) prefer to walk a more familiar, or so it seems, path of darkness. 

Look again at the sheer dynamic of the commands of John 14:12.  Jesus did NOT say that those who believe on Him SHOULD do the works that He did.  Jesus said, HE SHALL DO.  Note once again, this is not a verse speaking to possibility.  If that’s all it did, it would still be profoundly powerful and worthy of pursuit.  This verse speaks a command.  Jesus said the believer SHALL DO what He did.  “SHALL” is a command word.  Jesus fully expects you and I to rise up and fulfill that command.  So, when you read John 14:12, you must accept it as a command. 

Dear friend, the moment you accept this verse as a command, one of the first thoughts that will fly at your mind is “You talking to me?”  To the traditionally thinking, or religiously thinking mind, this command is staggering.  After all, Jesus was the Son of God.  He was born of the incorruptible seed of God’s Word through a virgin.  Why, we shouldn’t even begin to think we could do what Jesus did.  But I’ve a question for you.  Have you been born again?  Then you, too, are a son of God, an heir of God, and a joint heir with Jesus Christ.  God made you to be that person.  And having been born to it, I would suggest that you grow up, discover the truth of God’s Word about who you are, and accept your responsibility.  “You talking to me?” will be no excuse for failing to perform just because it sounds to great to your carnal mind.

Manna for Today – Genesis 1; Psalm 119:89; Proverbs 4:20-23; Mark 11:22-26; Romans 3:4