Over the years I have seen this from many Christians. The attitude is I’ll do it all by myself Lord and when I get into a pickle, I’ll call on you.
What’s the reasoning for this?
Some of the reasons I see is this:
- God’s pretty busy. I don’t want to bother him unless I have to.
- I believe God wants me to do everything my way since He gave me my own brain.
- What kind of a weak person am I if God has to cater to me all the time?
All of these things couldn’t be further from the truth on what God’s want from our lives.
John 15:1-8 – 1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
Why do we need to remain in the Lord? Because we’re fallen creatures that don’t think of the things we need to apart from God.
Isaiah 55:8 – 8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
Proverbs 14:12 – 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
It’s not about what you can do. It’s about letting Him do through you. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit work through you so God’s work can be accomplished.
You’ve seen it happen many times and possibly in your own life more than once. You just got knocked down in life doing your own worldly thing and hits you like a ton of bricks. You cry out to God, “How could I have acted so foolishly? How could I as someone who loves the Lord, do something like that or ended up where I am right now?”
So you throw your problems and cares upon Jesus and everything starts getting taken care of. Wow. We feel so much better now. So we go back to the same things that got us there in the first place.
“I got it! I got it now Lord! Wow, I’ll be more careful next time. Thanks. I’ve got it from here.”
God doesn’t want to be just your bail bondsman. The Lord wants an everyday relationship with you. He wants to be your everything. He wants you to branch into Him and now anything can happen. Instead we tend to want to do things our own way, until of course the road gets rocky or it becomes chaos again.
Jeremiah 17:7 – “But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.
Apart from God you haven’t got anything. You weren’t made to be that way anyway. Jesus is the light and without Him, you’re working blindly and in the darkness.
Submit to the Lord and listen to what He has for your life.