Many people tell me that they aren’t doing enough for God, which really means they don’t think they are working hard enough to make Him happy. I find this so demoralizing and discouraging, as everyone also has a different standard for what “enough” really looks like. We get weary, burned out and frustrated as the standard seems to keep moving depending on who sets it for us. A lot of religious people would love to set that expectation—maybe it looks like giving money, or helping the less fortunate, or being a pastor or giving your life as a martyr. But I don’t think we get the order right when we make this the priority.
All ministry, I believe, must come FROM relationship with Jesus, not IN ORDER TO get closer to or appease Him. We get the order wrong when we believe we can earn His acceptance, and we end up working for something we already have. Jesus has already brought us in, given us worth and told us we are loved and accepted. We didn’t have to do anything to try to earn that, and when we try to do it after the fact, it leaves us trying to live the Christian life without the power to do so.
God’s standard is how Jesus lived on the earth—everything He did came out of relationship with His Father, and nothing was more important than that Source. When we try to live like Jesus did, we make it impossible by removing the source and believing we can achieve that on our own. Instead, we can continue to live with Jesus and with God’s power being the spring from which all of the work we do begins.
This is not passivity, where we sit around and do nothing because we have given up. But instead, it’s recognizing that every tiny moment of the day springs from either our own resources or God’s. I know when I’ve decided I have to figure it out on my own and power my own ministry—I get pretty hopeless pretty quickly. My Father is very kind to remind me that isn’t the way I’m supposed to live anyway, so it’s not a matter of failing out. I get to do all things THROUGH CHRIST who strengthens me! We forget that middle part quite frequently.
God doesn’t ask us to do anything on our own, or to create anything apart from Him. He invites us into relationship empowered by Him to create together and bring forth beauty and new. This is so much more fun than trying to slug it out on our own requiring some religious standard of ourselves that Jesus never placed on us. In Him, I can do the impossible—love enemies, see spiritual truths as practical reality and move forward into things I can’t do on my own. What a beautiful way of doing life!
I know what it means to lack, and I know what it means to experience overwhelming abundance. For I’m trained in the secret of overcoming all things, whether in fullness or in hunger. And I find that the strength of Christ’s explosive power infuses me to conquer every difficulty. Philippians 4:12-13