WITHOUT ME YOU CAN DO NOTHING.

February, 2009

JOHN 15:5. Jesus said that he is the vine, we are the branches, and without our abiding in him, we can do nothing.

Man’s inbred sense is that he can do something, that is some things. He can tie his shoes, put on his clothes, he can get up, start his day, and get a lot of things done. (Sometimes we wonder why there is so much work left to do when the time is run out!).

What does Jesus mean when he says that without me you can do nothing?

It is true firstly that we can do nothing in terms of eternal value, that is, that will last for all eternity. It is also true that we can do nothing in terms of setting ourselves free from the things and issues that have bugged us for years.

Many Christians cannot understand why they continue to struggle with unresolved conflict with themselves and others. They have tried to forgive, believe they have forgiven, but yet the matters of the past continue to haunt them and the residual effect of the hurt lingers on.

They have with all honesty, integrity and purpose, endeavored to forgive someone who has hurt them or maligned them.

Many techniques are proffered nowadays to help us to do this. Some say that forgiveness is a decision of the will. Whose will??

Some who have been offended actually go to the offender and tell the offender that they have chosen to forgive that person.

This does little more than point out to the offender that they have done something wrong and that the offended one is so holy and righteous that they are now forgiving them.

(How sanctimonious!)

When a person comes to know and understand the truth of the indwelling Christ as their life, flesh patterns often continue to surface. Reactions may become even more intense and the problem may even appear to have worsened.

The enemy seizes upon the issue to cause the growing Christian to stumble and fall, to be frustrated and defeated and give up on the idea of ever becoming victorious.

Yet at the same time, God may want to use the issue to demonstrate that without Christ doing it, it cannot be done. This is where Eph. 4:31-32 comes into the picture:

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other,

Just as in Christ God forgave you. (NIV)

And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another,

Even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you. (KJV)

The Scripture here is not admonishing us to forgive one another BECAUSE God has forgiven us, but rather to forgive one another in the SAME WAY, that God has forgiven us. Without Christ, God could not forgive us. That is the WAY he chose to do it.

He perhaps could have chosen an other way, but the WAY he chose to forgive us was through the completed atoning work of the cross.

I John 2:2 He was the propitiation ( atoning sacrifice, or payment) for our sins, and not ours only, but for the sins of the whole world, everybody’s sins, all of them.

God looks at the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as being sufficient for the sins of the whole world and not only the sins of those who have accepted Christ and his provision.

We too can then look at the cross and see that it was there that not just our sins were dealt with, but also the sins of someone else, who has both wronged us and God.

When we “see” this, we understand that no matter what anyone has done against us, no matter how serious or grievous it was, Jesus dealt with it at Calvary.

It is therefore, and then incumbent upon us to receive by faith in the atoning work of Jesus, that the sin against us, (and Him indeed if it is a sin) was already paid for at Calvary.

When we “see” this, we can begin to understand that Jesus dealt with all sin, the forgiveness is complete, and because he is our Life, that forgiveness flows from the life of Jesus within us.

It is then not our action of forgiving that releases us, but rather our act of believing (by faith) that Christ paid for it at Calvary, that releases us and sets us free. (Emphasis mine).

No matter how many times our human memory comes up with the offense, we need only to remember that it is already paid for by Christ, and we therefore HOLD TO THE TRUTH that it is done and over with,.

THEN WE WILL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH WILL SET US FREE!

(John 8:31-32).

Donald E.Higgins, Exec. Director,

Crossways to Life, Kitchener ON.

(Used with permission.)

St.Thomas, Febr./’09.

Simon Vanderkooy.