Working at It Too Hard?

We can always be sure of this: God will always act in love. Why? Because we know he IS love (1 John 4:8 etc). To put it simply. God does what God is. The same is true of me and of you -- our actions come from
who we are. Jesus said "A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit" in Luke 6:43.

As Christians, we often want to find something good we can do for Jesus, but we can work at it too hard -- struggling to do what we decided to do. Jesus' words here should move us to focus on becoming: that is, letting the Holy Spirit move us into alignment with Jesus. As we become more like Jesus, we find it more natural to let Jesus produce his works in us. Jesus said "For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:4-5).

How does that apply to our Christian mission? Ted Johnston writes this in his blog: 
"Spiritual formation precedes mission. Our being first must be grounded in Christ before we can effectively participate in the works/mission of Christ...Scripturally, we can equate these skills [the missional skills of Christ] with the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to the church for the ministry of the church--skills like hospitality, administration, leadership, preaching and the like. At their root, the skills/gifts are ones possessed by Jesus, and the Spirit then shares the things of Jesus with us--thus his skill becomes our own. And so in our ministry with Christ in the world, we share in both his *being* (his character/heart) but also in his *doing* (his ability/skill/competency)...

"The key issue is that spiritual formation precedes mission and then leads into mission. And then on mission, our spiritual formation continues. It's not an either/or situation; it's both/and (both spiritual formation and mission). The two go together in a dynamic, ongoing relationship. Without spiritual formation there is no effective mission. Without mission, there is no complete spiritual formation. In the end, it's all about sharing in Jesus' being (his heart) and doing (his head and hands)."

I want very much to do Jesus' work in my life, but I'm finding out that he must do work in my mind and heart, before anything meaningful can come from me. As Christ is formed in me, bit by bit, I see more clearly what he wants done, and how he wants it done -- and as Ted explains, the two go on together. 

So, if you find you're working at it too hard, there's a solution: stop and let Jesus do it in you, first.