The Bible sometimes seems to make contradictory statements but, if we read deeply into them, profound truth emerges that shapes our lives. Let’s look at two examples.

In John 15:5, Jesus stated that we can do nothing….

Yet, Paul insisted that he could do everything!

Was Paul being arrogant and self-sufficient? Not at all if we factor in one provision common to both declarations.

“Without me” (Jesus) and “through Christ” (Paul).

“Jesus Christ” makes the ‘nothing’ real and the ‘everything’ true. Without Jesus, our Iives have no meaning, purpose, direction, or power. God intended a life for us on this earth that combines His presence in us as His temples with an eternal purpose to be transformed through His power and grace, into replicas of Jesus. We have a destiny in eternity, begun in time, that is bigger than the human mind can imagine. However, it must be fleshed out in human experience first, here and now.

It takes the power of the Holy Spirit in us to combine our ‘nothing’ with His ‘everything’ until we are ready to take up our role with Him in His eternal kingdom. It is this important truth that must influence the way we live and how we deal with life’s challenges and adversities, like Jesus did.

‭1 John 2:5-6 NLT‬
[5] “But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. [6] Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.”

Our life’s journey is all about becoming like Jesus. It’s about ‘piggy-backing’ onto Jesus in such a way that we become one with Him.

‭Colossians 1:27 NLT‬
[27]”For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: CHRIST LIVES IN YOU. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.”

Only through the union of heaven and earth through faith in Jesus can our ‘nothing’ become ‘everything’ in a way that prepares us for eternity.

The second apparent contradiction is the ‘life versus death’ situation.
Martha and Mary’s beloved brother, Lazarus, had died and been decaying in the grave for four days. Yet Jesus assured Martha that her brother would live again.

How is it possible that a dead body, reduced to dust again, can come back to life? Death is so final. Funerals are so frustrating. The body is in the casket but so dead that no communication is possible. Burnt in the fire or buried in the ground, they are gone.

Yet, Jesus assured Martha that her brother would live again. By the awesome power of His word, Lazarus walked out of the tomb, reconstituted as a human being, the old Lazarus alive and breathing. No doubt, Lazarus died again. The body that came out of the tomb was not his permanent resurrection body. He was still subject to physical death but….

‭John 11:25-26 NLT‬
[25] “Jesus told her, (Martha), “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. [26] Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”

Die but never die? How is this possible?

Once again, everything is possible when it hangs on Jesus’ authority and power. He declared that those who died physically, woud live again forever through faith in Him, never again held prisoner in the grip of death.

‭John 6:40 NLT‬
[40] “For it is my Father’s will that all who see his Son and believe in him should have eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day.”

‭John 5:25 NLT‬
[25] “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live.”

Oncenly with Jesus in the mix, can we be assured of eternal life.

‭1 John 5:11-12 NLT‬
[11] “And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. [12] Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life.”

With Jesus at the helm, death’s reign will come to an end….

‭1 Corinthians 15:24-26 NLT‬
[24]” After that the end will come, when he will turn the Kingdom over to God the Father, having destroyed every ruler and authority and power. [25] For Christ must reign until he humbles all his enemies beneath his feet. [26] And the last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

And the fear of death which holds us captive, is broken.

‭Hebrews 2:14-15 NLT‬
[14]”Because God’s children are human beings—made of flesh and blood—the Son also became flesh and blood. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. [15] Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying.”

Can you see, then, how these apparent contradictions find their solution only in Jesus? Through Him, delivered from the fear of death by His death for us, and from the power of sin, we can live our lives now in union with Him. We are being changed into His image by faith in Him and the power of His Spirit in us. Our destiny in eternity is assured and secured only by living in union with Him now that joins earth’s weakness with heaven’s power to perfect God’s purpose.