23 Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. 24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. 25 He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man.
Jesus just turned water into wine, people are seeing the miraculous signs he's doing and believing in him. That's what he wanted right - people to believe in Jesus? Apparently not. At least not that kind of belief.
It appears that people were believing in what Jesus was doing, not who He was. They were impressed with the miracles, but not with the fact that God himself was standing before them. We have a tendency to be impressed with people's actions so much so that we overlook their character. We have sports "heroes" who are great athletes but, who they are, their character is nothing to be admired (Michael Vick, Mike Tyson, Allen Iverson, OJ Simpson, Pete Rose, Darrell Strawberry, Rae Carruth, and on and on) It's the same in business, education, or any area - people who seem to excel in their abilities but have huge character flaws in who they are.
Jesus wasn't interested in putting on a show, in winning the accolades and approval of an adoring crowd. Why? Scripture says because he "did not need man's testimony, for he knew what was in a man." He knows how we are, how we think, how fickle our faith is.
Consider this for a minute: when it seems to you like God isn't listening, isn't answering and isn't doing anything in your life - how's your faith? Strong? Weak? Questioning? Fading? How about when it seems like God is actually working against you, how's your faith then? We have this problem of substituting our faith in Christ for our faith in his ability. We forget who He is. He is God. He is not our "do-boy" and what He does and doesn't choose to do for us does NOT change who He is. He is God. He is praiseworthy. He is holy. He is righteous. And I we are not.
Talk about a fickle faith. How's yours today?
2 comments:
I think it's all good, but I think the last paragraph is really great. My take is this: I always hear people say 'God will meet ALL your needs', but it doesn't always work like that. A dying Lazarus needed to be healed, a captive and slaving Israel needed to be delivered, and a Joshua-led people needed to conquer the land, but Lazarus died, the people were slaving and dying in captivity for 400 years, and 36 men died fighting Ai. God meets what He determines to be our needs. Lazarus NEEDED to be raised to show Christ's power over death, Moses NEEDED to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt (after 400 years) to show God's power, and Joshua and Israel NEEDED to learn to obey and always consult with God. Our perceived needs are not always our true needs. So whatever happens in our lives we NEED to trust Him for who He is and not what He does.
So true. I get stuck in this trap of thinking. Thank you for sharing this!
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