On Making the Father’s Will Preeminent
by Garry Henry
WordPoints.com
"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me" (John 5:30).
Doing the will of His Father was the ultimate, overriding priority for Jesus. To Him, nothing mattered more. On one occasion, when His disciples were surprised that He was not hungry, He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). Even in Gethsemane, His prayer was simple: “Not My will, but Yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).
Today, I fear we are reluctant even to speak of obedience without making “yes but” apologies for it: “Well, yes, obedience is important, but . . .” It’s as if we’d feel better if passages emphasizing obedience weren’t even in the Scriptures. In making the Father’s will paramount, did Jesus get the emphasis wrong? Like it or not, His example is clear — and if obedience to the Father is not a passion and a priority with us, we shouldn’t claim to be following Jesus’ example.
Obedience is not only essential; it’s vital in a fundamental way: doing the best we can to obey God is the key to discerning what is true about Christ and what is not. Understanding is promised not to the scholarly but to the obedient. Jesus said, “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine . . .” (John 7:17).
In this life, our obedience will fall short. But why should that be a source of paranoia, discouragement, or insecurity about our salvation? Can we not see the pursuit of perfect obedience to our Father as a thrilling, joyful odyssey, a process in which we delight to make daily progress? I believe this is an area where our perspective on God’s will needs a makeover. No one knows “imperfection” more than I, but my outlook has changed for the better. No longer does grace mean the fiction of Christ’s “imputed” righteousness — grace means God is helping me become righteous myself, really and truly. So, I get back up every time I fall, and I am fueled by the excitement of one day being just as obedient to the Father as my Older Brother is. He said, “You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Discipleship to Him means working on that. Today.
"[Christ] knows that you can try, and that in your trying and failing he will be able to help you, until at length you will do the will of God even as he does it himself" (George MacDonald).
