Daily Manna · Day 164 · June 13
Greater Works
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.”
Friend,
Your Tuesday did not look like the book of Acts. You answered messages, made supper and went to bed.
I want to take this verse back from the people who use it to sell you a bigger life, and hand it back to you as it really stands.
Look at the one condition Jesus gives. It has nothing to do with talent, gifting or nerve: "He that believeth on me." Then look at the reason He gives: "because I go unto my Father." That is the strangest part of the sentence, and it is the key to the rest. The greater works become possible because He leaves. He explains why in the same conversation: "It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you." "Expedient" means good for you. While Jesus lived in one body, He was in one place at a time, and a crowd had to walk to reach Him. After He went to the Father and sent the Spirit, the same Christ began working through thousands of hands at once, in cities He never entered. So "greater" is about reach. It has nothing to do with outdoing Him. At Pentecost Peter invented nothing new; he spoke for the Lord who had taught him.
That quietly takes apart the scoreboard you have been keeping against yourself. You have been measuring your life against the book of Acts, and it was never meant as the standard for a Tuesday. The same Spirit who was at work in Acts is at work through your ordinary hands.
You do not need to answer this or turn it into a plan tonight. Put it down. Sit still for a minute or two, and let it be true before you do anything about it.
Yours.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year two reading for day 164 is And Much Cattle (Jonah 4:11).