We can’t be everything to everybody. We can only develop and use the gifts God has given us. Imagine if we all tried (and succeeded) to do everything...we’d all be the same! There would be no need for individual gifts, we’d be self sufficient. It makes me want to run from it...because I know I am nowhere near self-sufficient, though I may have thought so once upon a time. My sufficiency is in Christ Jesus alone. He is sovereign over my life. There is no one else upon whom I can depend so completely...no man or woman is able to support another in this way. We are incomplete in the flesh. Which brings to mind the scripture from Mark 8:34-36:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said:
“If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”
When we focus on what we can or cannot do, we’re focusing on works. God asks us to live by faith. Faith that when we need courage, he’ll supply it. When we have a need, he’ll fulfill it. When we are sad, he’ll comfort us. And when we are filled with his holiness, we can help others...but not because we have to, or because we’re feeling obligated, but because God wishes to use our lives to show his great love to another human who is seeking.
We must not focus on obtaining the approval of man, but on what is pleasing to God. How does this happen? We must be diligent in asking for discernment in our lives. God will show us the truth, and his way, which produces the fruit of peace in our hearts
