Nothing of Ourselves

“Teach me that there is no greater truth than this, that I can do nothing of myself.” The Valley of Vision, Arthur Bennett editor, The Banner of Truth Trust, page 305.

Jesus says that, “I can do nothing of myself.” He says to us, “Without me you can do nothing.” Paul writes, “…nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.”

And yet we gorge ourselves on self-help programs, we devise ways to improve ourselves and do better today than we did yesterday, to achieve our goals and objectives – forgetting the counsel of Proverbs to “lean not on your own understanding.”

The Trinity invites us into relationship, in which the goal and purpose of life is to know the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Jesus says, “This is the work of God, that you believe on him whom he has sent.”

The Great Commandment is to love God with all that we are, and the second commandment is to love others as ourselves. The mark of the church is that we love one another as Jesus Christ loves us, laying down our lives for one another.

What we produce of ourselves is of no consequence; the fruit of the Trinity in and through the people of God has roots from and through and into eternity.