Jesus Every DayНамуна

The Best Is Yet to Come

Do whatever he tells you.
John 2:5, NLT

The New Testament records two great sayings of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

When an angel came to her and said, “You’re going to have a baby without knowing a man,” Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38, NLT). What amazing faith is revealed in these words.

The other great thing Mary said, decades later, was at a wedding she was attending with Jesus and his disciples. When the wine ran out, Mary looked at Jesus and then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5, NLT). Because she said that, a miracle happened.

So what did Jesus tell the servants to do? “Go fill these huge jars with water.”

“Uh, we don’t need water,” they could have said. “It’s wine we ran out of.”

Sometimes Jesus directs us to do things that don’t make sense on the surface. But he has reasons and plans unlike ours. We need to remember Mary’s words to the servants: “Do whatever Jesus tells you.”

This means, first and foremost, doing whatever Jesus tells us in the Bible. When the Lord says, “Don’t steal,” “Don’t live an impure life,” or “Don’t have racial prejudice,” by God’s grace, we need to say to him, “Today I want to obey your commands.”

We also need to do whatever Jesus tells us through the subtle whispers and promptings of the Holy Spirit. “Fill the jars with water” is not a general command found anywhere in the Bible. That was a specific word to the servants at the wedding. It’s the kind of word the Lord gave Paul when he told him to stay in Corinth: “Don’t be afraid! No one’s going to hurt you here” (see Acts 18:9–10). Paul stayed, even though he had previously endured much persecution for the cause of the gospel. He did what Jesus told him to do.

One of the fallacies of modern-day Christianity is that obedience to the words of Christ is an optional thing. Maybe we’ll obey, or maybe we’ll just follow our own preferences.

When the servants did what Jesus told them, the water miraculously turned into wine. When the master of ceremonies tasted it, he said, “Wow, in most weddings, they bring out the best wine first, and then, when everybody’s feeling happy, they bring out the cheaper stuff. But you’ve saved the best for last” (see John 2:9–10).

Notice, this miracle wouldn’t have happened if Jesus hadn’t been invited to the wedding. Jesus doesn’t barge in where he’s not invited. We will always see the Lord work on our behalf if we keep on inviting him into our lives, including into every relationship and the decisions we all face daily.

Too many times we become discouraged when we face critical shortages, and instead of consulting Jesus, we listen to the voices around us claiming our attention. Let’s invite Jesus to walk with us today, and then we too will say, “He saved the best for last.”

God, I invite you into my day, my decisions, my relationships. Help me to do whatever you tell me to do. I know it will bring great blessing.

Want more Jesus Every Day? This plan was inspired by Jim Cymbala's new devotional, Jesus Every Day. In Jesus Every Day, Jim Cymbala, a bestselling author and senior pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, offers 100 devotions that will inspire you to experience Jesus anew, find strength in his promises, and discover hope and encouragement on a daily basis. What would your life look like with Jesus every day? Discover more at https://www.brooklyntabernacle.org/jesuseverydaybook/.