Recent Musings:
Devotion #3
Friday, February 3, 2006
April 7 – Good Works: Believe in the good works that God has done in your life. John 10: 31-42
Christ wanted his actions to speak louder than his words. In fact, with the Jews, Christ urged them to listen to what his actions were saying.
In verse 38 of John 10, Jesus said that if the Jews could not look at him and see God, if they could not have the faith to believe in him as God’s son, then at least they could rely on the tangible and rely on what their eyes were witnessing and believe in the miracles he performed as a sign of something larger than himself.
The Jews wouldn’t believe Christ’s words, so he tried another angle to get them to believe. Christ was trying to meet them where they were, trying to meet them in their doubt and take them through their doubt to a place where their faith in only seen things could turn into a faith in unseen things.
Christ did good works to prove to these humans through their humanity that God was working through him. Perhaps God does the same with us. Even if others see our good works, our kind efforts, our struggles toward forgiveness and understanding and compassion, and cannot believe in God, at least they can believe in the good works that are being accomplished through us. That will be the testimony for God, that as sinful humans we are capable of committing good works.
Many doubt that a work can be good unless it comes from God. However, it seems to me as if Jesus says through this text, “believe in the work itself, for that work will show and prove itself to be from God.” Many times we perform good works and do not realize the impact those works have on others; many times our good works and our characteristics label us as children of God before we’ve spoken a word.
If Jesus worked to perform miracles for the doubts of the Jews, if Jesus used his good works to label himself as from God, then our good works will be used for the same purposes and will fulfill the same tasks. Let your actions speak as the voice of God.