The Work Of God

The Work of God

Read: John 6:26-29

“The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:29

“We are the wire, God is the current. Our only power is to let the current pass through us.”

—Carlo Carretto

IN WORD Have you ever wondered what it would take to do the works of God? Or why we seem so powerless in our Christian lives? Our prayers often lack effect. We are beaten and bruised by sins and attitudes that we can’t overcome. We are battered by circumstances that seem to confine us. We know, beyond the shadow of a doubt sometimes, that we are not living the Christian life as portrayed in the book of Acts. Why not?

Jesus gives us the answer. Do we want to do the works of God, to live supernatural lives that are manifesting evidence of His Spirit’s presence? Then we must believe Him. We want a formula for super-spirituality or an understanding of His power that only the most celebrated saints have experienced. But Jesus is almost mundane in telling us the key to spiritual success. It is belief in Him. Not only is this God’s plan for our salvation when we first come to Him; it is a lifelong pattern.

This kind of belief implies trust. We often can accept God’s will only insofar as we can understand it. But Jesus calls us further: Accept His will, even when we’re confused by it. It’s a matter of trust in His goodness.

This kind of belief implies obedience. To say we believe in Jesus while simultaneously ignoring His instructions, even the hard ones, is to attempt to bypass a relationship with Him. It is not true belief.

And this kind of belief implies faith in His power. He is the God who can move mountains, and He promises to do so in response to our faith. Do not doubt Jesus’ power. He is always able.

IN DEED This is the work of God: to believe in Jesus. Trust, obey, believe. We are simply branches on the vine. When we rely only on Him, we can expect God to work miraculously in us, and in fact, we come to understand that He already has.