Monday, January 06, 2014

Thinking Beyond Ourselves

Is it just me or do you do this, too? I am prone to plan and scheme and devise according to my own abilities. Sometimes I even dream this way.

When I sit down to plan I think about what I can do, what I want to do, what I've done before...

That's too much I!

This indicates a flaw in perspective. A flaw in theology.

God has a grand purpose and design. He chooses to us me but not because of what I bring to the table. Can you imagine God looking around the earth, spotting me, and thinking, "Oh, boy! There's Bob. I'd never be able to do this without him!"? No, I can't imagine that either.

Instead, I believe God shows his glory to me and through me by using me in something that is greater than me.

Paul put it this way.


I am a common vessel. We are common vessels. God is God.

But God uses me. He uses us. God empowers us to be more than we are and to do more than we can.

Maybe God does choose to use me because of what I bring to the table: nothing! It's in my weakness that his strength is known. It's in my inability that his ability is magnified.

I'll be honest. It frustrates me when Christians look at their limitations or failures or obstacles and plan accordingly. We set goals that we can reach, whether it's a missions offering, an outreach event, or a high attendance Sunday.

Hopefully, I'm not out of line in making this application of scripture. In Matthew 6 Jesus says that if we do "acts of righteousness" purposefully out in the open so everyone can see, then the praise of those in our earthly audience is the only praise we'll get. But if we do them to honor God rather than to honor ourselves, he blesses us.

Is it possible that when we aim for something that we think we can hit, even reaching the goal leaves us empty? Is trying to meet our expectations rather than seeing God work in miraculous ways going to leave us with a false sense of accomplishment rather than experiencing the awesome glory of God?

I've often said that a church is not considered large or small because of the number of people who attend it but because of its vision. I pastor what would be considered a small membership church but I refuse to have a "small church" mentality because I believe God will do great things through any group of believers who seek his goals rather than their own.

So when we plan we use an abundance of hope and optimism and expectation with only a dash of realism. By this I mean that we realistically consider our earthly resources but never underestimate our heavenly resources.

Flipping the recipe shows more dependence upon ourselves rather than faith in God. The right mix shows we believe God can take all that we offer him and multiply the results. A story comes to mind of a little boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. The disciples said, "That's not enough." Jesus said, "It'll do. Watch this."

I'm ready to watch what God can do. And to be part of it.

Image credit http://www.truthforlife.org/static/uploads/1280x800-jarsclay.png

No comments: