Michael Jordan was the “go-to” player for the Chicago Bulls. He was the one the Bulls went to when they needed a basket on offense or a stop of defense.
Every Christian needs a Michael Jordan truth—a go-to sentence—to turn to at a moment’s notice. We need something that can energize, inspire, motivate, and strengthen us by making us optimistic when we’re in Charlie Brown pessimistic circumstances or face a Job-like painful trial or an Abraham with Isaac hard commandment.
“I can because Jesus can” is this kind of go-to truth. It’s what Paul means when he assures us, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13). Paul could because Jesus could.
I can because Jesus can is a go to truth because Jesus can.
It Ain’t Braggin’ If You Can Do It
Dizzy Dean was a Hall of Fame Major League pitcher. Dizzy loved talking about Dizzy. A woman scolded him for bragging. But Dizzy had no politically correct DNA. He didn’t walk his words back; he doubled down. “Ma’am,” he said, “it ain’t braggin’ if you can do it. And I can do it!”
The Bible brags about Jesus. It tells you nothing’s too hard for Him.
Jesus is no Samson. No Delilah leaves Him helpless by cutting His hair. He’s not the spiritual equivalent of the “Man of Steel.” No kryptonite brings Him to His knees. No Achilles’ Heel makes him vulnerable to a lethal arrow.
Go to the Bible
The Gospels are a scrapbook full of Jesus’ exploits. For example, in Mark 5 we see Jesus handling with ease three situations beyond human ability.
Mark 5: 1-20 introduces us to Legion. He was possessed by thousands of devils. Tormented and demented, he was first cousin to pathological killers. Uninhibited and shameless, he wore no clothes. Wild as an untamed stallion, he roamed where he wanted while shouting like a banshee. Miserable as sin, he used stones for his cutting addiction. Twice Mark tells us that no one could tame Legion.
Yet a few words from Jesus evict the demons easier than you’d lift a Kleenex from a box; and those same words alter the man’s mood better than a psychotropic drug could have and without side effects! When the camera pulls back Legion’s sitting, clothed, and calm as a sleeping baby.
What’s the message? Jesus can!
Mark 5: 21-34 introduces us to another person in this menagerie of misery. A woman has a chronic illness described as a “discharge of blood for twelve years.” She visits specialist after specialist. She finds them medical mirages. Instead of getting better, she got worse. And now after all the deductibles and copays and payments for treatments, and wrestling with her insurance company, her money’s gone.
But now she’s in a crowd with Jesus. And she believes that if she can just touch the hem of his garment she’ll be cured. She reaches out, feels her fingers brush the Savior’s coarse garment and knows immediately that her bleeding has stopped. Jesus knows energy is gone out of him. Investigating, he hears the woman’s story. And tells her that her faith in Him unleashed His healing power.
What’s the message? Jesus can!
Mark 5: 35-43 introduces us to Jairus’ dying twelve-year old daughter. The girl’s got one foot in the grave. There’s no time to waste. Jesus had to come to Jairus’ house NOW. But He’s delayed by the woman with the discharge. Finally, after what seemed an eternity to anxious Jairus, Jesus finishes with her. At that moment messengers tell Jairus it’s too late. His girl’s gone. But death’s no match for Jesus. He goes to the house and addresses the little corpse with the words, “Little girl, I say to you arise.” And resurrection power floods her body and she rises.
What’s the message? Jesus can!
Go to the Cross
But evicting demons, healing disease, and defeating death are little things compared to the mighty work Jesus does for us on the cross.
How can sinners like us be accepted by the living God, the One Whose glaring holiness and infinite justice make the slightest sin a capital crime that must be punished by the living death called hell?
The time is soon coming when that question will cause everything else that occupies our attention to dissolve as quickly as a spoonful of sugar in a cup of McDonald’s hot coffee.
When this time comes, whether by our death or the Lord’s return, all of us trusting Jesus will find God accepting us and welcoming us into His home.
Why? Because of Jesus. God will accept us for one reason and one reason alone: By His grace, He had Jesus pay in full the penalty for our sins. That’s what Paul means when he assures us that Jesus “redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Galatians 3:13).
[ctt template=”2″ link=”3G35c” via=”yes” ]God will accept us for one reason and one reason alone: By His grace, He had Jesus pay in full the penalty for our sins.[/ctt]
Oh, my friend, do you see what this means? It means that when you face the greatest ordeal you will ever face—God’s judgment—you will find to your eternal delight that Jesus is enough.
In other words, you’ll find at that moment the glory of the truth that you can because Jesus can.
If Jesus can take you unscathed through the judgment of God, He can handle anything.
If Jesus can handle anything, then through Him you can too.
So, Christian, stand up to whatever’s bullying you at this moment by fighting it with your go to truth:
I can because Jesus can.