[ Today's Readings ]
If I do not perform my Father's works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.
We need to have consistency between our works and what we preach. Our lives need to be marked by the works of mercy so that those around us can know that we are the followers of Jesus by our love (see John 13:35). Our lives need to be marked by demonstrations of the Spirit and power so that people can believe in Jesus not merely based on our testimony, but because of God's power.
and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God (see First Corinthians 2:4).
Yet these things must be a part of the proclamation, not a replacement for it.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! (see First Corinthians 9:16).
We should be like the early Church in Acts:
Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard (see Acts 4:19-20).
We should be able to say with Jesus, if you do not believe us, look at what we do. We will not achieve the consistency between action and message that Jesus shows us. But he is the goal to strive for. That doesn't mean folks will always listen. After all, they didn't listen to him. But as with him this need not stop us or slow us down. We can entrust ourselves to the LORD.
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
It's a big task. But we needn't shrink from it. Instead, in our distress, we cry out to the LORD.
In my distress I called upon the LORD
and cried out to my God;
From his temple he heard my voice,
and my cry to him reached his ears.
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