“The way in is the way on.”
What felt needs did God use to woo you to Himself? As you reflect on God’s footprints, this self-awareness fuels healthy growth. God strategically initiates, bringing us to that point of yielding our lives to Him. Of course, early ways are like seeds sown into our lives, which later grow into fruitful trees. I call this incremental learning “layer learning,” learning one layer after another. As I mined truth from my salvation event, three very crucial seeds stood out (at the time, I did not see, reminding ourselves of the need for reflection). These “ways in” are also essential for our “way on” this spiritual journey.
First, God’s part is to
initiate and mine is to respond.
Second, I knew I could
not run my own life…ever. On our Christian journey, we do not fail because we
are “too weak.” We falsely believe we
can do some things alone (John
15:4b+5b; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10). So lean into God in every single event in
life. Christ is our life (Col 3:4).
Third, fairly early through
my “passive” mentors (Christian
literature I read, beginning with Scripture), I realized that God simply calls
us to be all-in with Jesus, to affirm
His will before we know it. I signed
the blank title deed to my life on the bottom line. And said “You fill it in.” Oh, not that I saw
this so clear or that I always responded well. God saw my heart (Jn 17:6), even
though I often struggled to yield.
With hindsight, I realize how
vital it is for healthy growth that we sort out on a high level what is God’s part and what is ours. He initiates and I respond. We
love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). In Psalm 23, God makes
me lie down, then leads me to resources so I choose to engage. God
always takes the first step toward us, and we respond to His amazing
first-love. God does His part very well, and also outfits us to partner with
Him in ours.
However, our enemy strives to deceive us to attempt to do God’s part, which we cannot
ever do. Or to wait for God to do our
part, which God will not do. Discern so we don’t fall into this spider web of
deceit. And don’t be a man-pleaser, but live to an audience of One (or better,
Three-in-One, Father, Son and Spirit).
When I came to Christ, He
first loved me and I responded with “I’m Yours.”
I knew I could not run my own life. Have
you come to that deep conviction that you desperately need Jesus? Has Jesus
captivated your heart? Full allegiance
to Jesus! And it costs us to
be all-in (Philippians 3:7-8), though
I prefer “investment” more than “cost.” Through an accounting lens, both
cost and investment are outflows of resources. However, an investment is an
asset on the balance sheet with an expected future return greater than the
outlay. We cannot out give God!
This is Reflection #18 in my book, Foundation Stones. I also have a web-site with tools, books and "more than Bible studies" that have helped me to live out of this spiritual DNA, www.JimFredericks.com
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