God’s Part, My Part

“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