Last week I got to help my niece, who’s teaching dance, get her room set up for the new school year. I’m so excited for her! In her office, she has a piece of word art. It says “be” at the top, followed by a long list of things like kind, grateful, nice, thoughtful, generous, happy. So cute, right? Such a good reminder for us to treat one another with kindness. But then my heart sank, because I can’t actually do many of those things.
It sounds awful, I know. But it’s true. There have been several times in my life when I realized that I just can’t be good. Even if I can try really hard, my effort doesn’t get me very far in things that originate in my heart. I mean,I wish I could decide to be good, love God and others, and then just be able to do it. Sure I can try for a little while, but pretty quickly the “real me” comes creeping out, the “me” that is impatient (so impatient!), the “me” that is cranky, the “me” that is critical.
Thankfully, I’m not on my own. I say it all the time and I’m convinced that it’s true:
My job is to keep my eyes on Jesus, and his job is everything else.
It isn’t my job to sanctify myself. It isn’t my job to transform myself into his image. And yet, that is exactly what’s happening. Part of God’s agenda is for me to be more like Him; more like his Son. And that’s what He’s doing. It’s a work only He can do.
I used to have an office in my church and young women would come in and sit down and talk. They would talk about their lives: the good stuff, the bad stuff, all the stuff. One day, I realized that I was doing a lot of talking too. I didn’t mean to. I was just reacting. But something in me didn’t want to do so much of the talking. I wanted to be a better listener but any kind of tools or tricks I used were short lived. I knew I needed help in this area, so I asked the Lord to make me a better listener.
A few months later, a young woman was talking with me in my office and I realized…I WAS DOING IT!!! I had asked Him to make me a better listener and He did! I was unable to muster up whatever it took to keep my mouth shut and to listen better and longer before I responded, but the Lord did it! The Holy Spirit in me was able to do in me what I was unable to do myself.
Young woman,
I think we try really hard to do good, and be kind, and be grateful and be gracious. Those are all good goals, right? But what if today, and the rest of this week, you stopped trying so hard, and asked the Holy Spirit within you, to do what you cannot.
Does it feel to you like it’s so simple that it can’t be right? It kind of does to me. But over the years, I’ve just found that I am so much better off resting in Jesus and letting him do the heavy lifting, like transforming my life. I keep my eyes on Jesus and He does everything else.
Fix your eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith!
see Hebrews 12:1&2