John 8:28

"Then Jesus said to them, "When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things" John 8:28

There is a simple truth in today's verse - a truth we would do well to imitate. Jesus, the Son of God, the second part of the Holy Trinity - the One who will use the earth as His footstool - the One who was with the Father at creation - that Jesus, would speak nothing that He did not hear first from His Father! So you thought the Sermon on the Mount was original with Jesus - nope. And you were sure the Lord's Prayer was spoken for the first time when Jesus instructed the disciples - no way. Even the last words of Jesus as He hung on the cross, those were first spoken by the Father. Jesus said so.

OK, the deliverance of the Demoniac? The Father instructed Him to do it. Turning water into wine? Jesus' mother told Him to do that, right? Wrong. "I do nothing on My own initiative."

We would be wise to follow in Jesus' foot steps on this one. Jesus couldn't make a mistake - not because He was part of the Godhead - but because He relied upon the Father to guide Him in every move. Before He called the twelve apostles, He prayed. (And Judas was not a mistake!) Before He walked on water, He prayed. Before He allowed Himself to be offered up as the final sacrifice, He prayed. He longed to do nothing but what the Father wanted - and He did it to perfection.

We can do the same - well maybe not to perfection - but close. "How?" By knowing the voice of the Father. "How?" By not only reading the Word, but allowing it to become a major part of the fabric of our lives.

Some of the greatest actors, while preparing for a role, will do all they can to become their character. If it's a policeman, they ride the streets with policemen. If it's a doctor, they spend hours with doctors. If it's a living person, they try to spend days with that person, learning their mannerisms, their way of speaking, their lifestyle.

We need to do the same with the Father. The more time we spend with Him, the more we will act like Him, talk like Him, walk like Him, live like Him, and speak like Him. If He is our hero, our idol, we will do all we can to be like Him.

And that's the way we learn to say with Jesus, "I do nothing on my own initiative." Hallelujah, Amen and Amen.