Have you ever wondered how we could be sure that the idea or utterance in our hearts are coming from God or from our own volition? If you have, then keep reading below. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. (John 7:18 ESV) Jesus is confronted by a crowd in Judea during the Festival of Booths. It is clear from the text that the crowd had been questioning whether this person that they’ve come to know as Jesus from Nazareth was really speaking for God, as a prophet would; or if he was just another rebel rouser. They wanted to write him off. They wanted to write him off because Jesus wouldn’t give them the pleasure of defending his authority or purpose. In fact, Jesus says that anybody who wants to do God’s will would know whether or not it is God’s will. This statement entraps them because it is something they never thought about. It’s like having a chicken and an egg and they both came first! Now, this also poses a dilemma for us in that we have a hard time discerning God’s will and our will. I do this professionally, and even then there’s a lot of grey and not enough definitive “yes” and “no.” Jesus gives us a really good benchmark to measure whether or not we are speaking for God or speaking for ourselves. That’s verse eighteen. If we speak or if we vision and the intent is our glory with veins and streams of going to God, then it’s not of God. However, if our intent is glory to God and glory to God only, regardless of who and what else gets any residual glory, then that’s God. In the perfect world, we would shoot that residual glory back to God as a thanksgiving offering of praise, but that’s another story for another day. When God does things through you, because you’re intent and sole focus is to glorify God, then you will find authority to say and do things with the power of God pushing through you. I want to caveat this by saying that when we speak for God or if we allow God to speak through us, we do so measuring our intent and purpose with “right judgment” and not the appearances of judgment. Let’s try to change where our authority comes from and start speaking for God in our lives.
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