Looking Within

 

Recently, something stood out to me on social media, as things often do. What is it about social media that pushes our buttons? Lol. It’s not all bad though, is it? We can really use that platform for good and I am always seeking out ways to do that. Anyway, what stood out to me today (and has popped up many, many times) was a seemingly very innocent and positive post. I use the word seemingly, because it was meant as a positive post, but it was generally about how we can do great things if we believe in ourselves and that we are the only ones that can make things happen in our lives, or something to that effect. I do believe that there is some nugget of truth in this. We cannot rely on others to make changes for us, right? Just like, we are not responsible for making anyone else change anything in their lives. Each of us is responsible for ourselves, for our attitudes, how we respond and react to situations, etc. This I can get behind. Accountability and Integrity are extremely important to me. The ideas that don’t quite sit right with me, are the ideas that we can accomplish anything we put our mind to, or that the answers to life’s challenges, can be found within ourselves. Some of these quotes that we share on social media don't exactly align with what God tells us in the Bible.

 

2 Corinthians 12:9 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.

 

Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Psalms 25:21- May integrity and uprightness protect me because my hope, Lord, is in you.

 

I could go on with more verses that are such great examples of what I want to point out, but let’s just look at a few right now. In 2 Corinthians 12:9 we are told that God’s grace is sufficient (it is enough) and that He will use our weaknesses to show His strengths. We do not have to be good enough or have it all together, we just have to be willing to let God show up and let Him do amazing things in and through our lives. In Romans 15:13 it tells us of being filled with joy through our hope and trust in God (not in ourselves), and once again in Psalms 25:21 it speaks of our hope being in the Lord.

 

Friends, this is truly great news! When we put our trust, hope and faith in God, we will not be let down. What if we are relying on ourselves to accomplish all our dreams and then life gets in the way? We don’t get that job we wanted, our health is not cooperating with us, our friends are not speaking to us or we lost someone that we love and it throws us into a downward spiral. We didn’t get all those things that we wanted and hoped for. Who will we blame if it doesn’t go right? We might blame ourselves, because we were counting on ourselves to take care of these things, to just look within. We looked within and what did we find? Maybe we didn’t find all the things we had hoped to discover. We came up lacking. If we had instead put our hope in God, would these things still have happened? Probably, but if we knew that we didn’t have all the answers and power in advance, we would likely not be so hard on ourselves. We may question God, sure, but He is ok with that, He can handle the things that we cannot always handle. I think what ultimately happens though, when we go to God and tell Him that we’re hurt, tell Him that we don’t understand or this wasn’t what we wanted, we have Him to help carry our burdens. It's not all on us to fix. He is with us through every pain and heartache and through every joy and celebration. He can carry us through the things that we cannot get through on our own, and that is such an amazing thing. We don’t have to rely on ourselves to do great things. It is better to rely on God and He will do great things through us. Let us pray!

 

Lord,

We recognize that we do not always have it all together and we realize that is okay. You have it all together, always, and we can rely on You to pull us through hard times and to celebrate with us through the good times. Thank you, God for being such a loving, grace-filled God who cares about our every need and our every hope. Thank you for being the anchor that we can always count on to hold us steady. I pray for each and every person that is reading this today, that you will speak to them through this message and remind them of Your love for them and may they entrust their hopes and their dreams to You God. Lead and guide each of them along the path that they should go. Do amazing things through our lives, use us to encourage, support and uplift others and to bring others closer to You and Your goodness and perfect love. Amen.

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