Making a difference in our world today seems evasive giving
the many pressures and challenges that pervade our culture. If only we would
have the wear-with-all to be consistent in our focus and sharp in our clarity,
we might have the discipline to make something happen.
However, in putting the burden entirely on our backs, we
miss the point of what God wants to do through us. You see, it isn’t so much
about our power but His. We must be available to lead, serve and manage and
yet, yield control over to His supernatural provision. Does this go against
everything we hear in our society? Absolutely! Society says, “You are the only
one who can determine your future.” “If you want to do it right, do it
yourself.” “You need to stand on your own two feet.” “You have to hustle, you
have to make things happen.” “Be a rainmaker” “Be all you can be” “Be a
self-made man” “Go Big or Go home” Sound familiar? Very motivational, yet very
selfish. The main character in all those statements is “You.” The main
character in God’s way is Him. Often times it can feel that motivation is the
same thing as inspiration. Motivation comes from the world and the world’s ways
of living, working & playing. Inspiration comes the Lord and His way of
living, working & playing. The bottom line is that trusting in yourself or
others will always disappoint. Trusting in God never disappoints.
I have to admit, I love motivational books, CDs and DVDs.
They can be very encouraging yet I realized a huge disconnect in many…they fell
short of what the Bible heralded as truth. “Self-Help” is just that, helping
your self by yourself. The Bible tells a different story, the better story. It
says, “Trust in the Lord with all your
heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him
and He will direct your path.” Proverbs
3: 5-6
In my own life I know
that success can be earned & achieved through your own effort but who gets
the glory, typically it’s you and it’s short-lived because the world always
demands more. In my experience in sales, you will have a fantastic month and
hit 200% of plan, get kudos and possibly awards….then, what happens? The next
month begins and it was like you never achieved success the previous month.
They said, “It’s October 1st, what do you have for me this month,
son?” The world is never satisfied with your activity or accomplishments, it
will always want more. God on the other hand, is satisfied in you alone, not by
what you can do for Him or how well you perform. God loves us for us, not
anything else. The way we love God is being obedient to Him and His ways, loving
others, serving others and walking in truth. Does that include accomplishments
and activity? Yes, but not at the risk of Him loving us any more or less. He
loves us as much today as He did yesterday or tomorrow. We can’t earn more of
His love through our working, striving, or producing. Scripture says that “our acts of righteousness are like filthy
rags to God.” Isaiah 64: 6 He is
Holy and set apart, nothing we can do or say will ever curry His favor or His
love more than just that fact that we are His creation and He loves us. Does
God want us to be righteous and make good choices and follow Him and serve Him?
Sure, He does. The difference is this, He doesn’t require that of us to be
loved or accepted by Him. If we are in Christ, we are already accepted. He is
our righteousness, not by our own works, but by His. Paul says, “We are saved by Grace, through faith, and
this is not from yourselves….it is the gift of God, not by works so that no man
can boast.” Ephesians 2: 8-9 If
we could earn our salvation, who would get the credit? Us. But since we cannot
earn our salvation, God gets the credit.
Here is a disclaimer, just because we can’t earn God’s salvation,
love or acceptance doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t work hard or be productive.
We must be diligent and do our part, whether in business, school, our family or
ministry. This means being faithful in our commitments, our responsibilities
and our promises. This means recognizing that sometimes we get overwhelmed and
we need Jehovah Shalom (The God of Peace) to take the reins and give us the
strength and endurance we need. This involves admission of help and acceptance
of help. Both are very contrary to what we read, watch and hear in our society.
Because of the spirit of pride that is so prevalent around us, we think we have
to do it all on our own. If we don’t, we are perceived as weak. But Jesus says,
“My burden is easy, my yoke is light,
take my yoke upon you and learn from me.” Matthew 11:30 The fact is that we have learned from the wrong
teachers. We have been taught that only you can determine your destiny and you
have to will it, do it, achieve it and earn it all alone. In essence, this is
Idol worship. You are worshiping your own ability and praising your own
successes. How much more rich it would be to shift our focus to God, away from
us? When we give Him the glory, we are obedient. Because of our obedience, He
is faithful to remember and will reward us. The only one who receive the credit
is God. The Doxology says, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.” He gets
the praise alone. The world may praise you, even good Christian people but don’t
believe the hype. It won’t last long and they will either expect more of you or
get bored with you. Give God the credit alone.
When a person plays golf, like I do, they typically think
that power and might alone will allow them to hit the ball farther off the tee,
off the ground or off the cart path. This thought process is derived from other
sports where kicking, passing, shooting and so forth all rest in the hands of
the athlete. Golf is different, very different. Golf requires skill, precision
and relinquishing control to the club. You could be the strongest person you
know, bench pressing 400lbs or more and yet that really doesn’t matter in golf.
Because in golf, you have to learn how to swing correctly, be mentally focused
and let the golf club do the work for you. In others words, you must give up
control to your club whether that is a driver, 5 iron, pitching wedge, etc. It’s
the same way with our lives, God is looking for us to rely on Him for strength,
energy and endurance. We may do a lot of things really well, but in the end we
are still human and still need rest, still need energy, still need strength.
We
may get by on our own for a season, but eventually it catches up to us and we
are no better off than we started. We get worn out and overwhelmed. You say “But giving up control goes against
everything we have been taught, it seems weak, it seems lazy”…I agree. Yet, God
wants us to rely on Him. He longs for us to say, “Lord, I am going to be
honest. I can’t finish this project, it’s too hard, too stressful. I give it to
you. You give me what I need to finish and finish well. Thank you. In Jesus
name, Amen.” Or could be a simple as this “Lord, I’m weak when it comes to this
temptation, please help me. In Jesus name.” No script is required, only
honesty. The Psalmist says “a broken and
contrite heart, the Lord will not despise”
Psalm 51: 17 Asking for help
isn’t weak, it means you are mature enough to know that someone else is
stronger. God is stronger. He holds the stars in His hands. He makes the oceans
wave. He makes the sun shine. He raised Jesus from the dead. Don’t you think He
can handle your load, your burden, your weakness, your temptation, your hurt,
your project, your pain? The world will disappoint, self-help will fizzle, our
bodies will grow tired, our motivation will wane, but God will not. “He neither sleeps, nor slumbers” Psalm 121: 4 He is El Elyon, The Lord
Almighty. He is Jehovah Tsaba, the Lord of Hosts. If He helped Gideon defeat an
army of 30,000 with 300 men, will he not help us pay our bills once we pay our
tithe? Will He not give us wisdom in our business dealings? Will He not provide
for our family if we would only ask? He will! He will stand in the gap for us,
if we would only trust Him and admit our need of Him. Motivation will only get
you so far, God will take you farther. Farther than you can ever dare to
imagine. Trust Him today.
