We can do all things

It’s getting to that point in the lives of my friends and myself when we’re starting to think about what we want to be when we grow up. It’s not really a matter of when we grow up as much as…well, kind of facing it straight on. Lately I’ve been hearing people talk about their plans for the future and realizing how much we take for granted that we can do virtually anything with our lives. Of course, I’m including myself in that. We talk about studying abroad and going on mission trips and moving across the country and having our dream jobs and pursuing our passions and changing the world as if there were no obstacle that could possibly stand in the way of those things. Really, our world is an open book, full of possibility and promise for a better future, the best future. You can call it naïveté or whatever you will, but our generation really believes in our hearts that we can do anything and everything. And maybe we can. May we not become jaded. May we keep that fire and that conviction that we can truly do all things, but not forget that we are nothing and can do nothing without Christ and His Spirit that lives and works inside of us. If the glory is not going to Him, all of our big accomplishments are worthless.

Satan can shove it

Satan, man that dude is tricky. He really knows what he’s doing. How did he get me to forget about grace?! Over the past couple weeks he’s been working pretty hard to show me all the ways I am falling short of the way God wants me to be living, and I’ve been caught up in all the little things I think I’m supposed to be doing: “Oh, I’ve heard about twelve new causes this week and they’re all worthy of being supported, and I think I’ll start sponsoring a child, and I’ll give money to build wells in Africa, and I’ll volunteer at this soup kitchen, and I’ll recycle so I can be ecologically responsible, oh, and I need to pray more, and I should be journaling, and I haven’t counted my blessings yet today, and I need to exercise to take care of this body God gave me, and who have I talked to about God, and…” Of course those are all great things to do, but there is also something to be said for focusing your efforts. Trying to micromanage my own life and turning my relationship into a checklist makes me feel like I’m failing if I don’t get things perfectly every day. Thank God for His grace that is sufficient to transcend my weaknesses and failings.

His grace is sufficient

There is so much of me that strives to be close to God, but at the same time there is so much that pulls away from Him, even fights Him. Tension is always there. And it makes me afraid to learn more about God and what He wants for my life because I know that I’ll find out that I’m still so far away from what He wants me to be. I’ve got to learn to take this journey one day at a time and lean on God to help me grow in Him rather than becoming overwhelmed when I see how far away from Him I still am. His promise is that His grace is enough to cover my inadequacies and that when I draw near to Him, He will in turn draw near to me. He truly is my Savior, my Rock, and my Redeemer.

“From the cowardice that dare not face new truth,
From the laziness that is contented with half truth,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
Good Lord, deliver me.”