All I Can Do?
By Mike Rule
One prevalent way of thinking that I run into in talking with
people and in counseling is "We must do all that we CAN do,
and just leave what we can't do up to God." While this may
be true, it is not the entire truth.
This statement has the potential to be dangerous because of
one thing we all have that inhibits the life of Christ from being
revealed through us...ASSUMPTIONS. Let me explain. When I am
faced with a situation, I tend to respond out of my experience
based on similar situations from the past. When I do that, I have
immediately made a LOT of assumptions. I have found that I get it
wrong every time.
God has been faithful to show that when it comes right down to
it, I can do nothing. Yet I can do all things through Christ...
or rather Christ through me can do all things. I find that I am
like a warehouse. God has me show up in a situation - not to
offer what I can do - but to see what He is going to do. He may
draw upon the resources (warehouse) I have at His disposal,
(experience, knowledge, understanding, etc.) but He is just as
likely to start saying things and revealing things through me
that I have never heard or thought before. If I am doing what I
can do, I am not allowing Him to flow through me. Christ wants to
flow through us by our moment- by-moment invitations. It is not a
once for all thing.
It is all about weakness. When we see the "can do"
that we thought we "could do", but now know we cannot,
then He can - and we realize that we are abiding in His presence.
Only then will He flow through us. We don't seek to become
stronger, but weaker and more dependent. His strength is
perfected in our weakness. This is my continual prayer:
"Lord, make me weaker..."
When we recognize our weaknesses and are willing to own them
as our own, we will discover the freedom we have in Him. When we
are totally dependent upon Him, He will work through our
choosing. We will know that HE has given us the desires of our
heart (He has placed the desires in us, and now is fulfilling
that which He has given us to desire). It's as easy as moving and
responding to what He is doing around us, acknowledging our
desperate need, making no assumptions, and responding to what HE
lays on our hearts to do in any given moment! Isn't that awesome?
Isn't He awesome?
|