No Good Thing

Jhn. 6:63, Jesus said, "It is the Spirit that imputed, imparts life, the flesh profits nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Paul said, through the Holy Spirit in Rom. 7:18, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing..."

Have you ever noticed that in between “no” and “thing” is the word “good”? In Lk. 18:18, the ruler asked Jesus, saying, Good Master, WHAT CAN I DO to inherit eternal life? (Read verse 19).

This was Peter's lesson (sooner or later we'll see it is a lifelong lesson), the lesson to learn to know himSELF, to know through experience the flesh's total uselessness and powerlessness before God. To understand this, Peter had to be BROUGHT very low---and so do all those that are Christ's.

Peter trusted in himself, his self-confidence, and had to be humiliated. Like Peter, the more self-confident we are, the more separated we are from the power of the Spirit. So, like us, the weak Peter was left to his own resources. That is why he made his bold statement to Christ saying, "I am ready!" But really, this was the language of undisguised, presumptuous self-confidence (Jhn. 13:37-38).

Thank God, we, like Peter, can be thankful for our Savior's prayers in Lk. 22:31-32, and for His loving look in the midst of betrayal (Lk. 22:61). Jesus had a coal of fire and food for Peter, and He has it prepared for us (Jhn. 21:9-17).

When Jesus was asking Peter three times the same question, He was bringing him into the light of His love and teaching him how his own deep fall was teaching him that his own heart was not to be relied on and that without Him he couldn't even do one thing with proper motive. With Christ in him, His grace making him strong (2 Tim. 2:1), he could then strengthen his brethren.

And so can we (2 Cor. 4:7).