John 8:25-29: in context

The people press Jesus to say plainly who he is, and he speaks of his relationship to the Father. He who sent me is true, he says, and I speak to the world what I have heard from him. They do not understand that he is speaking of the Father. When you have lifted up the Son of Man, he tells them, you will know who I am, and that I do nothing on my own, but speak as the Father taught me. And he adds words of quiet intimacy: he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.

Jesus describes a life lived in complete reference to the Father. I do nothing on my own, he says; I speak only what the Father taught me; I always do what pleases him. His whole life was oriented toward the Father, dependent on him, seeking at every moment to do what pleased him rather than acting on his own. And bound up with that dependence is a promise of presence: because he lived this way, the Father had not left him alone; he who sent me is with me. The communion was unbroken: the Son who did nothing of himself and always did what pleased the Father was never abandoned by the Father, but always accompanied. This is both a model and a promise for us. The model is a life lived like Jesus' own, in constant reference to God, not acting merely on our own will and initiative but seeking to do what pleases him, dependent on him rather than self-directed. And the promise attends the model: the Father has not left me alone. Those who seek, as Jesus did, to do what pleases God, to live in reference to him rather than by their own devising, are given the same companionship. We are not left alone. The God we seek to please is with us, accompanying the life that is oriented toward him. There is a deep security in this, deeper than any our own resources could give: that a life lived toward God, seeking to please him and doing nothing merely of ourselves, is a life God does not leave alone. He who sent me is with me, Jesus said; and the same presence attends those who follow him in living toward the Father.

Do I live self-directed, acting merely on my own will and initiative, or can I follow Jesus in living toward the Father, seeking to do what pleases him and nothing merely of myself, and take hold of the promise that attends such a life, that the God I seek to please does not leave me alone but is with me?