“By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” John 5:30

Standing below the attic stairs, I looked up, then down. Before me was a very heavy box that, I had determined, needed to go… up there! Before I even picked it up, I KNEW I was going to have a problem. Getting it down was one thing. Getting it up… another. Very quickly my ego kicked in and loudly announced, “you can do it!” Picking it up, my brain kicked in gear… then shot my ego!

Thankfully, I had Rob here to do some work I had previously determined I had no business doing. Hearing him behind me, I turned and asked, “Hey brother, will you give me a hand?” And it was done. The problem didn’t lay in the weight of the box. The difficulty sat squarely between my ears and behind my eyes. Raised to be a ‘can do’ guy, I’ve been on a journey called, ‘No, you can’t!’

Having been a student, then a teacher of many, the art of rising above limitations with a ‘Gir-R-Dun’ attitude is a serious life lesson. Now, learning the lesson of, ‘no you can’t’ is a hard and humbling process… often accompanied by humiliation. Today’s verse shows that even Jesus… the Son of God… had to learn the art of eating humble pie. Yet He did it with style… and deep love!

I stole a steal-able saying from Pastor Chip Ingram. It goes like this… “I can’t! But He never said I could. He can! He always said He would.” It is a lesson that even God had to volunteer to learn. Though Jesus said, “with God, all things are possible,” even God can’t step across the line of His love directed ‘Free Will.’ Admitting my weakness, and dependence on Him, always precedes God’s help.

This Easter, I am gratefully reminded, and relieved, that God doesn’t EXPECT me to ‘Man-up!’ He expects me to admit my weakness and lay down my life… putting it into HIS capable hands and allow HIM to do what only He can do. His Word tells me that’s the whole reason He created me in the first place. HIS power in my weak vessel shows HIS strength. And I’m going to let Him. Will you?