John 5:30 English Standard Version (ESV) “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Follow Jesus in this way.

Picking up where we left off yesterday this passage brings us everything we need to model our lives after how Jesus lived as a man.

Do not act alone. We are in covenant relationship with the God of the universe and that relationship with Father God is the basis for eternal life which begins to be lived out now. Nothing should be done in a vain attempt to satisfy self. Selfish motivations are actions done alone, without God.

Secondly and perhaps the most important of these steps is to hear Father God. We have been given spiritual ears and eyes to hear Father God. We have been given the Holy Spirit who speaks only the truth and witnesses no one except Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit acts in power according to the will of Father God.

I judge is validation of instructions. We are human and nothing should be done impulsively. Did we hear God or the lies of the enemy? Yes we can hear the lies of the enemy even though we have this covenant relationship with God. We live in the world which is Satan’s realm and as such he is using every influence within his power to thwart God’s plans.

Just judgement comes into play by balancing everything we have heard against everything we know about Father God. In order to do that we must know Him with intimate details having a right understanding of His Word. That takes dedication to this relationship. Spending time with Him in His Word is something we cannot do alone. His Word is in us, His Word is true, and His revelation is a knowing that surpasses knowledge. It is love.

Mark 8:23 English Standard Version (ESV) And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”

Jesus knew that this spiritually blind man was about to see for the very first time. He speaks to the human condition of blindness in which the man now has sight but what does he see. Does he see a man or does he see God the Father?

In this telling tale from the gospel of Mark it is important to note the Jesus led the man away from the village and ministered to him alone. No one was there to see what Jesus did to anoint the man’s eyes. From a world view to spit in a man’s face is an insult but when this act comes from God it is a gracious gift. This is a personal matter, no one else will know.

Jesus knows all too well the issues confronting the spiritually blind. Being fully man He knows this as a man. Away from worldly influences the man feels no pressure to surrender to convention. He is free to choose what he now sees for the first time. Does he see Jesus according to all he has heard or now that his eyes are open, can he see God the Father?

Many will tell us about how to apply the bible to our daily lives but the first principle of spiritual life has to come from God the Father who created us with purpose. No one can tell us that purpose except God the Father.

John 5:30 English Standard Version (ESV) “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.”

Follow Jesus this way.