Where The Christian Life Begins

My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work.   John 4:34

You can’t miss this in the life of Jesus: He placed himself under the authority of the Father. The whole of his life was aligned with the Father’s purpose.

This was never seen more clearly than in the garden of Gethsemane, where Christ said, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39). If it were possible to fulfill the Father’s purpose without the awful pain of the cross, that would have been Jesus’ choice. But if the Father’s purpose required him to go through this agony, then he was ready.

If we want to come to the Father, the first question is whether we are ready to be subject to his authority. That was the big decision the Prodigal Son had to face (see Luke 15:11-24). He had resisted his father’s authority for a long time. Then there came a point when his father’s house seemed very attractive. But before he could return, he had to decide if he was willing to be under his father’s authority.

Some people know so little of the Father’s love because they’re continually resisting his authority. No one can enter the relationship Jesus offers and at the same time resist him. When you pray, “Our Father . . . ,” it won’t be long before you’re saying, “Your will be done.” Christ brought these two together in Gethsemane when he submitted himself to the Father’s will, even though it was indescribably painful. Are you ready for that kind of submission?

It is significant that the first time the most intimate title for God, Abba, is used in the New Testament, it is not from the mouth of an ecstatic worshipper, but from the agonized voice of Christ in Gethsemane (see Mark 14:36).

To know God as Father is to be subject to his authority. The Christian life does not begin with my deciding I would like to go to heaven; it begins when I come to the place of saying, “I want your will to be done, not mine.”

For further reading, see Luke 15