John 14:12 English Standard Version (ESV) “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

Jesus healed the sick, calmed the seas, walked on water and raised the dead. What could we possibly do that was greater than that?

A hint of what that would be is contained in the message itself.

He left them and went to be with the Father.

What is the one thing that Jesus could not do while He walked the earth that we can do?

He couldn’t show His abiding presence in mortal man as long as He was with them.

This is true and the tricky part in that is how Jesus reveals Himself in us so that others might know Him.

We cannot just declare His abiding presence and make others see Him. It is not as easy as asking Jesus to come out to play.

It becomes even more difficult if we continue to act in the same manner we did before we came to Christ. People who knew us before being saved will not see any difference in us if we are not changed. We have to become this new creation in Christ.

That is not something we do as much as it is done to us.

When I first became this new creation my family saw some really drastic changes. It was awkward for them because they thought I had lost my mind. In fact I did. My mind was not my own any more. I had given myself over to Christ.

Not everyone who becomes a Christian undergoes radical transformations. Some of us were decent people and the change did not look all that different. Some of us with exceedingly sinful lives found we could no longer live that life. Getting to be this new creation is awkward for us because we do not know at first what it means to be renewed in the spirit.

It took a year before my family realized who I was in Christ. It has taken me long to discover all I am in Christ because I am still being changed. Being a Christian is not a revolution, it is an evolution. We change bit by bit, from grace to grace, new mercies every morning.

We are not in control of the order of change. What changes and when isn’t up to us.

John 17:5 English Standard Version (ESV) And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

Here Jesus declares to us that His presence is not seen to be in His full glory. The idea being that Jesus was only in HIs full glory in the presence of God the Father. This partial glory is seen by us to be more than we can handle in ourselves. Knowing that the abiding presence of Christ in us is not full glory should be comforting. His full glory is too much for humans.

The human aspect of Jesus desires to be reinstated in His full glory much in the same way that we as His creation want to be reinstated with God in the Garden of Eden. Restoration of glory is being in His presence who is glorious.

Glory is the nature and acts of God in self-manifestation, i.e., what He essentially is and does, as exhibited in whatever way he reveals Himself in these respects, and particularly in the person of Christ, in whom essentially His “glory” has ever shone forth and ever will do. Vine’s definition.

The fact that He will only manifest little bits of His essence has to be based on His love for us and acknowledgement of our abilities to handle all that He is in glory. This will change once we have been translated into our incorruptible form. Then we will be able to stand in His presence, His full glorious presence.

Until then we are left with the reality that we can only glimpse of His glory that serves His purpose in our lives. We might want more but we cannot make God reveal more of Himself than His will allows. This places us in a position that Jesus expresses inJohn 17:5, we desire more.

We want to see more of Jesus in us than we have seen. The trick is that we can only see more of Him by being less ourselves. Can we be less ourselves and still be true? Yes, if we have learned to be humble without being humble by God Himself. It is a matter of free will, to give up self will in favor of entering into His will. Taking that step takes faith and trust in God.

John 3:30 English Standard Version (ESV) He must increase, but I must decrease.

JB shows us what we must do, to see more of Jesus.