Expression part 4
"Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise" (John 5:19). We are God's expression. What He does... He does through us. And it's not, "I see Daddy do it and then I try to do it in my own power." It's, "I see Daddy do it IN me, and then it comes out THROUGH me." And look at what Jesus said, "The Son can do NOTHING of himself." He didn't say, "The Son can do evil all by Himself, but when it's good then it's God." He said there's NOTHING He does that isn't an expression of God. And listen, I'm not saying God does evil things. We know He is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. What I'm saying is that we are judging things wrong. I used the example of Joseph where it LOOKED like a lot of "evil" was happening to him--sold into slavery, thrown into prison--but it was all part of God's plan to save lots of people. This same story is fulfilled in Jesus. Being betrayed and tortured and crucified seems like a lot of "evil" right? But in actually it was all part of the plan. That's why Jesus didn't fight against it. He said He could call a legion of angels to fight for Him. But He didn't. Because He knew--and trusted--the plan. He knew that the human experience--highs an lows, ups and downs--is not something to simply survive, but something to thrive in. Something to express the Father's love in. And watch this: People need love the most when things look bad. So when things look bad, that's our biggest opportunity to really be who we are. But what if we don't? What if something "bad," or "evil" happens and we react like human beings? Like... for example... if our friend dies. Two words show us what Jesus did when His friend died. "Jesus wept" (John 11:35). And for some reason we think this kind of emotion is unholy, or something like that. We think we need to keep a stiff upper lip and not let anything effect us in order to express God. We have to "be strong." (And I know I just covered that in the Weakness Rant series.) See, Jesus came to give us life, and that more abundantly. He didn't come to strip us of our humanity. He came to show us what it means to truly be human. To truly be alive. When Jesus wept He was expressing the Father. He was expressing love. When Jesus turned over the tables of the money changers in the temple He was expressing the Father. He was expressing love. When Jesus turned water into wine in order to keep the party going He was expressing the Father. He was expressing love. But we've made things like this--sadness, or righteous anger, or (heaven forbid) drinking--unholy. We've drawn lines that fit our culture and instead of letting God express Himself through us, we've made it out that if it doesn't fit OUR expression then it can't be God. That's backwards. That's man making God in HIS image instead of understading that we are made in GOD'S image. We are God's expression, not the other way around. His expression of love!