daily devotional

Daily Devotional: The Importance of Action - June 30

“The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Unbind him, and let him go.’” John 11:44

Lazarus lay dead in his tomb. He could not raise himself. His sisters, who loved him, could not raise him. The disciples were incapable of helping. Lazarus’ condition is analogous to the unconverted. “You are dead in your sins.” 257 You can no more raise a spiritually dead person to life than bring Lazarus out of his tomb. Education, logic, reason, nothing will help. It is a work only Jesus can do.

But you can do some things. God will never do for you what you can do for yourself. What can be done by man will not be done by Christ; Jesus never worked needless miracles. The miraculous only begins where ordinary means can go no further. Jesus fed the multitudes, but He began with the lad’s few fish and loaves of bread. Jesus did not destroy the stone covering Lazarus’ grave. He told the people to roll it away.

Certain things you believe you can do, God cautions you not to do. God does not want you to try to become rich. 258 But in those areas where God has not established prohibitions, and you are competent to act, He expects you to perform. Your dependence upon God cannot be an excuse for passivity. Certain things only He can do, and certain things He wants you to do. Your task, as His follower, is to know the difference.

257 - Ephesians 2:1
258 - I Timothy 6:9-10

This daily devotional is provided by the Leadership Foundation (www.leadershipfoundation.org) & Walter Hendrichsen.

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