If You Want to Get Anything Done, Then You Better…
By Dean Collins
If you Google how to get anything done, you will find lots of tips and many quotes about efficiency, determination, and some suggestion that you need to just do it yourself—especially if you want it done right. I will admit that in various stages of my career in business, ministry, and even in family, instead of trying to explain how, I just stepped in and did the task. In an emergency that may be necessary, but in general it is not the best strategy when it comes to building a team or raising a child.
Self-reliance also works against spiritual formation. In a beautiful and familiar passage, Paul wrote:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.”
Paul went on to share the “great afflictions” he experienced in Asia, saying, “For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death.” But without skipping a beat, Paul said something we need to remember. He explained that he believed his suffering had a spiritual purpose in his life. Paul said the purpose of his suffering was to teach him not to rely on self but rather to teach him to rely on God who raised Jesus from the dead.
We may not want to admit it, but this is every believer’s challenge. Even though the grace of God covers us, we have a tendency to think that we need to always figure things out for God instead of trusting Him to meet our needs and get us through our afflictions. And we have this same temptation in almost every area of life. But God has given us His Holy Spirit to guide us and to do the ongoing work of transformation of both our thinking, our hearts, and our behavior.
Here is Paul’s testimony:
“On Him we have set our hope that He will deliver us again.”
Maybe today we need to remind ourselves of the trustworthy nature of God’s promises. The One who raised Jesus from the dead is our hope and our victory. Don’t try to do it by yourself today. Ask God for His help and guidance. Raising Jesus from the dead is evidence that He can handle whatever it is you might face now or in the future.
Father, thank You for the gift of these verses. Today we will set our hope on Christ and trust fully that He will deliver us again! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
2 Corinthians 1:3-11 ESV
Photo by Pexels
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