Getting in the Way

Galatians 2
¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Have you ever tried so hard to accomplish something that was just un-accomplishable and in the end you just had to turn it over to somebody else? As a man, I take pride in being able to open a jar of anything that is tightly shut, whether it is peanut butter or pickles. Yet there have been times when I've been embarrassed to humbly pass the failed attempt on, only to watch the next person effortlessly screw it off. Talk about an ego punch!

Here recently, my family needed to build out a room for my dad who was going to be living with us. He was going through surgery on his back and already had prior knee problems, so the upstairs spare bedroom was out of the question. There were two issues that were not playing in our favor. One issue was that we didn't have the funds to pay somebody to do the build out. The second issue was that I didn't have a clue about what it took to turn a garage into a bedroom. If I was going to do it, it wasn't going to get done.

In steps my dear friend Timothy, his son, their friends and family and my dad now has this beautiful room that he can call home. I would stand there at times, watching them transform this garage and wondering how I could help. The truth was that when I helped I would just get in the way. It was something that needed to get done because it was urgent. So they did it and I could only sit back and watch. At times I felt so helpless and unworthy. At times I wanted so bad to jump in but I couldn't. In the end I had to just step back, accept it and be grateful for the love and compassion that they showed my family.

Others chipped in as well financially. The labor was free, but I had stored up debt on the materials that were used. We aren't poor people by any means, however we didn't have the funds to cover the debt. We couldn't do anything. All we could do was accept it and be grateful. The experience was extremely humbling.

God has a high standard of perfection. Thankfully He also has a high standard of love and compassion. The law of God represents everything that it would take for us to love perfectly. Loving God and loving people is the summation of God's law. The truth is that is impossible for imperfect people to accomplish a perfect standard. When we realize the impossibility of the task, at first we may become discouraged. Some may give up. Others may change their beliefs. Still others may ignore the problem or act as if God can just embrace imperfection.

When Jesus came, He lived a perfect life of love, compassion and service. He then was punished for our sins, so that instead of us trying to accomplish the un-accomplishable, we might live by faith in Him. He accomplished it!  While taking His last breath, hanging on the cross, He even said, "It is finished!" That was for you!

God's law brings us to the realization that we are incapable. However, Jesus is capable and offers us the opportunity to piggy back His life. Rather, we have the opportunity to trust Him by faith and allow Him to live through us!

So, we come to a point where we accept that. We say, "God I am a sinner. I need You." Still, somewhere along the line we begin to try to accomplish the un-accomplishable again. "God I want to help." "God I want to chip in toward my debt." We forget that when we trusted Jesus' sacrifice, we too were put to death. If we are going to trust what He accomplished on our behalf, we have to get out of the way. We die to what we can't accomplish and then allow Him to do the work in us.

There is a world of difference in living the Christian life on our own resources and a life lived letting God do it through us. This is something that we must learn, because once we try to do it on our own or even take partial credit, we nullify the grace of God. Letting go and letting God does not result in lazy Christians, but rather more effective Christians who operate out of the power of the Holy Spirit.

--
Scott A. Hescht

Life Spring Church  <)))><
(832) 217-9278
http://www.lifespringfamily.org

Psalm 22 Ministries
GOD has not forsaken you
http://www.psalm22.net

"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." - Jesus