For or In God?

Inside the Mind:

I just recently read a devotional by John Fischer that discussed the contrast of doing things for God and doing things in God. This devotional caught my attention immediately because this was something I have been struggling with for a while. I find it easy to give money to a homeless person, help out with the computers at church, volunteer in a food and clothing pantry, or help someone load a U-Haul. While these are all wonderful things to do, sometimes I feel that I am being lured into believing they are the only things I need to do as a Christian. All of these things I am doing for God, but I am doing them on my own strength and not God’s strength. When I help out with the computers at church, I am in control of what happens. Because of my past experience with computers, I could find a solution to most computer problems on my own – I don’t normally ask God for strength while I install a word processor. Sure, I sacrifice my valuable time, but I feel good about using my gifts to do things for God. Therein lies the trap. I could fill all my available time with doing things for God on my own strength and feel good about myself as a Christian, but I would not grow spiritually a single inch. I believe that doing things in God is what forces us to grow spiritually. Only when we loosen our iron grip of control on the situations we encounter, will God actually appear larger in our lives.

As I look back over my life, every spiritual milestone that I could remember was a result from a leap out of my comfort zone, an unexpected experience, an uncomfortable experience, or a time of complete helplessness and vulnerability. Not one single milestone was reached as a result of just doing my thing. Only when your strength is completely exhausted, is God’s strength seen in abundance. Only when times appear hopeless, is God’s love seen as perfect. Only when life gets out of our control, is God’s sovereignty displayed at its best. Instead of only doing things for God in our own strength, we should be doing things for God and in God. I believe that living a life that is radically in Christ would entail feeling uncomfortable, vulnerable, weak, and insignificant, but in reality, we couldn’t be any safer.

Excerpt from "In Me" by Casting Crowns:

If you ask me to leap
Out of my boat on the crashing waves
If you ask me to go
Preach to a lost world that Jesus saves

I'll go, but I cannot go alone
Cause I know I'm nothing on my own
But the power of Christ in me makes me strong
Makes me strong

Cause when I'm weak - You make me strong
When I'm blind - You shine your light on me
Cause I'll never get by
living on my own ability
How refreshing to know You don't need me
How amazing to find that You want me
So I'll stand on Your truth, and I'll fight with Your strength
Until You bring the victory, by the power of Christ in me

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2 Corinthians 12:9-10
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.