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"... Apart from Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5b).
The Bible is very clear that we are vessels or containers who contain the glory of God. He designed us to contain and express His glory. If I had a lamp with a light bulb, that lamp still needs power outside of itself to produce light. It can't produce the power, but it can receive the power and display that power through its bulb. We are like that lamp. We need God's life in us to produce the fruit of His life.
When Jesus said that we could do nothing apart from Him, He was/is saying we need Him to be our power. Just as the electricity has a relationship with the lamp that produces visible light, we, too, have a relationship with Christ that produces His Light.
Let's not stop there, though. By God's design and purpose, He wants to display Himself in and through us. Just as the lamp needs the electricity, the electricity needs the lamp. It's not that God needs us - He wants us. He said He could make the rocks cry out, but He would rather use us as the vessel of His glory than a rock!
We are the vessel and Christ is the power. Our relationship with Him reveals the Light. What the darkened world needs is the Light. Going back to the lamp analogy, we tend to focus on the outward appearance of the lamp. There are nice looking lamps, bold looking lamps, plain lamps and ugly lamps, large lamps and small lamps. The one thing they all have in common, when the electricity is flowing into them, is light. It is not the appearance of the lamp that overcomes the darkness, but the emanating light.
I grew up believing that God wants to help me live a good life. So I would pray, "God, please help me to be patient," or "God, help me stop committing this sin I know You don't like." Then I would continue to struggle with impatience and sinning. This defeat would cause me to either question whether God was listening, or if I was sincere enough in my prayers for help. I suspected He was listening, so ultimately the focus was on my "depravity." In other words, I saw myself as broken, not good enough, and inferior. Christ came to set us free from our depraved sin natures. He did this by remaking us into a holy and righteous creature with new desires. Our truest desires now reflect the very nature of God. Our hearts soar with the desire to behave in a way that mirrors God's behavior.
Too many prescriptions for victory involve making the vessel look better and act better. Victory doesn't come from the outside; it comes from the inside. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves..." God made us for relationship. The reason we can't do anything apart from Christ is because we were made that way, just as the lamp cannot produce light apart from the power. Our inability to behave righteously apart from Christ is not proof of a sinful nature; it is proof that we are totally dependent on Christ for life.
We are now free to focus on expressing Christ's life in our everyday life. It doesn't matter what our circumstances looks like. Christ is able to navigate every condition; every temptation; every thought, emotion, and choice. If we could walk in victory simply because we desire to, we would not need Christ. We were made for relationship and in that relationship with Christ, His Light (Glory) is displayed.
Trust your godly desires; God put them there. With those desires, He supplies the power. You don't have to manufacture strength - you get to rest in His strength!
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Tom Price (Georgia, USA) is a contributing writer for IOM America - Transformational Biblical Worldview & Exchange Life Development.
Permission obtained from writer to republish Made for Relationship. Originally published on blogger Living Life! (Christ's Life Expressed through Tom and Tess Price) at tomtess1.blogspot.com on January 5, 2015. IOM America editorial changes to original approved by author.
All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible. � Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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