Dependence Upon God
According to my “Lead Like Jesus” devotional, “Humility is a heart attitude that reflects a keen understanding of your limitations as a leader to accomplish something on your own. When a victory is won or an obstacle overcome, humility gives credit to forces other than your own brilliance or efforts.”
C.J. Mahaney writes, in “Humility: True Greatness” that 2 Chronicles 16:9 is really about humility. It says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards him” (in other translations it says perfect or commit their lives completely in place of blameless).
For some reason, I have always associated this Scripture with getting everything right or doing things for God. If I work hard and get it all right, He will notice me. However, giving strong support to someone implies dependence.
Dependence and humility go together. Humility implies an understanding of ones lack of ability in self and one's needs, resulting in dependence upon God. God notices humility resulting in dependence upon Him and rewards it by showing His strong support. Jesus says in Matthew 23:12, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is our perfect example of humility. In Philippians 2:6-11, Paul notes that Jesus "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place..."
There is a trusting dependence in the humility that Jesus demonstrated. Paul demonstrated this humble dependence as well. In Philippians 4:13 Paul said, "There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength." Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him humble. When Paul asked for it to be removed, Jesus told Him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul's responded, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Working hard to prove myself faithful and be noticed by God has to do with performance and is the opposite of dependence. My grandfather, growing up in an orphanage, learned at a very young age that his value was determined only by how hard he worked and how much he was able to do. Believing this, he then taught this to my father who then taught this belief to me. All my life, to some extent I have believed that one's worth was based upon how hard they worked and getting everything right. Being loved and accepted had to be earned. This belief was reinforced in many of the environments (treatment centers, etc) I was in growing up.
Going back to Galatians 5:16, Paul tells the church, "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." This scripture is very clear that not carrying out the desires of the flesh is a result of walking by the Spirit (dependence upon God). Too often I have worked hard trying not carry out the desires of the flesh thinking that if I only got it right, I would 'walk by the Spirit.' However, what this has really been about is my belief that I had to work hard and prove my value to God in order to feel worthy to walk with Him. Ironically, when I work hard and get it all right, it results in pride rather than dependence upon God which distances me further from walking with Him. It is only when we depend on God that we have the power and capacity through the Holy Spirit, in our weakness, to not carry out the desires of our flesh.
Each one of us are valued and precious to God just as we are created. What God desires from us is not our hard work, but our hearts – relationship. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The good works in this case is not hard work for God but purposeful activity with God. Work is designed to be a gift as something we do in relationship with God. Steve Wiens, one of my pastors, has noted at times that the works that God will give us to do are more than we can handle so that we learn to depend upon Him.
In a leadership class I was in at my church this last weekend, it was noted that we naturally bear fruit as we are grafted to the Vine and are depending upon Him. It is not from our ability or skill that we bear fruit but by His power filling us in our emptiness. One of the meditation scriptures for this week from class is Matthew 11:28-30, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me -watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Lord, I long to walk with You, keeping company with you and living freely and lightly. Forgive me where I have continually turned our relationship into performance and tried to work hard to earn your approval and acceptance. Thank you for your grace, patience and unconditional love. You love me to life.
C.J. Mahaney writes, in “Humility: True Greatness” that 2 Chronicles 16:9 is really about humility. It says, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and from throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless towards him” (in other translations it says perfect or commit their lives completely in place of blameless).
For some reason, I have always associated this Scripture with getting everything right or doing things for God. If I work hard and get it all right, He will notice me. However, giving strong support to someone implies dependence.
Dependence and humility go together. Humility implies an understanding of ones lack of ability in self and one's needs, resulting in dependence upon God. God notices humility resulting in dependence upon Him and rewards it by showing His strong support. Jesus says in Matthew 23:12, "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Jesus is our perfect example of humility. In Philippians 2:6-11, Paul notes that Jesus "did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place..."
There is a trusting dependence in the humility that Jesus demonstrated. Paul demonstrated this humble dependence as well. In Philippians 4:13 Paul said, "There is nothing I cannot master with the help of the One who gives me strength." Paul had a "thorn in the flesh" to keep him humble. When Paul asked for it to be removed, Jesus told Him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Paul's responded, "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Working hard to prove myself faithful and be noticed by God has to do with performance and is the opposite of dependence. My grandfather, growing up in an orphanage, learned at a very young age that his value was determined only by how hard he worked and how much he was able to do. Believing this, he then taught this to my father who then taught this belief to me. All my life, to some extent I have believed that one's worth was based upon how hard they worked and getting everything right. Being loved and accepted had to be earned. This belief was reinforced in many of the environments (treatment centers, etc) I was in growing up.
Going back to Galatians 5:16, Paul tells the church, "walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." This scripture is very clear that not carrying out the desires of the flesh is a result of walking by the Spirit (dependence upon God). Too often I have worked hard trying not carry out the desires of the flesh thinking that if I only got it right, I would 'walk by the Spirit.' However, what this has really been about is my belief that I had to work hard and prove my value to God in order to feel worthy to walk with Him. Ironically, when I work hard and get it all right, it results in pride rather than dependence upon God which distances me further from walking with Him. It is only when we depend on God that we have the power and capacity through the Holy Spirit, in our weakness, to not carry out the desires of our flesh.
Each one of us are valued and precious to God just as we are created. What God desires from us is not our hard work, but our hearts – relationship. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” The good works in this case is not hard work for God but purposeful activity with God. Work is designed to be a gift as something we do in relationship with God. Steve Wiens, one of my pastors, has noted at times that the works that God will give us to do are more than we can handle so that we learn to depend upon Him.
In a leadership class I was in at my church this last weekend, it was noted that we naturally bear fruit as we are grafted to the Vine and are depending upon Him. It is not from our ability or skill that we bear fruit but by His power filling us in our emptiness. One of the meditation scriptures for this week from class is Matthew 11:28-30, "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me -watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Lord, I long to walk with You, keeping company with you and living freely and lightly. Forgive me where I have continually turned our relationship into performance and tried to work hard to earn your approval and acceptance. Thank you for your grace, patience and unconditional love. You love me to life.
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