Understanding Through Obedience

Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me. If anyone chooses to do God's will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

Jesus is pointing to the foundation for what he is teaching. It is not his. He is carrying the message from his Father. True understanding comes when we put thought into action. A person without faith can see God working through them if they are fortunate enough to go to the mission field. Often, this event builds tremendous faith in them. What they witnessed God do cannot be denied or explained any other way. So, doing God’s will opens the heart to see God’s work which solidifies understanding.

We often get things backwards. We have to logically understand before we will believe. Not a single person totally understands the way the body works and yet we eat, we breathe, we do other bodily things without knowledge of all of the inner workings of our body. We walk on the planet without having intimate understanding of the science of gravitation or the mechanics of walking. Most of the things we do because we have learned how to do them through imitation, practice and improvement. But for some reason, some people lock in on the fact that they don’t understand Jesus or God perfectly, therefore they must not be.

At the risk of being overly simplistic, God is all-knowing. Do you know anyone else like that? You probably can’t keep up with the smartest person you know, either. Does that mean that they don’t exist?