ONLY

  adj: having no equal or rival, alone in a class or category, incomparable

“But if you see that the job is too big for you, that it’s something only God can do, and you trust him to do it–you could never do it for yourself no matter how hard and long you worked–well, that trusting-him-to-do-it is what gets you set right with God, by God…” Romans 4:5 MSG 

“This is too much, too big, too hard for me.”

Haven’t we all thought that at times?

Actually, all of the important “jobs” that God calls us to are too big for us. Trying to serve him in our personal and professional lives. Parenting. Caregiving. Obeying. Forgiving. Following him into unfamiliar territory. Speaking the truth in love. Even with our best efforts, our determination, and our good intentions, we can’t accomplish his purposes without him.

We know that he has created us with unique gifts and strengths and a desire to serve him. We know that he has given us his spirit to help us. And we know that he has given us some wonderful and challenging “big jobs”.

We also know that sometimes the path we are called to walk is not exactly clear. And that sometimes it feels like we are not doing anything well.

 How much am I responsible for? What is serving God supposed to look like?

 He knows that this can get confusing for us. But he reminds us to trust him all along the way.

 While driving on the freeway the other day, I saw an elevated off-ramp under construction that came to an abrupt and precarious end. It is not finished yet; and if anyone was to accidentally find themselves on it, they would be in danger of driving right off the end of it and crashing below.

 Seeing something like this usually sends chills down my spine. But this time, a surprising calm came over me. I felt like God was giving me a picture of what I have been struggling to understand. Yes, he has given us unique gifts, dreams, energy, connections, and abilities to serve him with. But those are just like the unfinished off-ramp. They only go so far, and then they end–short of the destination. Only God can get us the rest of the way. At times our efforts can be really instrumental and helpful, and at other times we tend to get in God’s way; but always we are going to come to the end of ourselves.

 Let’s choose the trusting-him-to-do-it way. He will bust us through the barricades and lift us to places that we can only dream of.

After all, he is “…the Road, also the Truth, also the Life.” John 14:6.

 INVITE HIM IN

Bring it all to him. Everything that you are praying for, hoping for, and working for is in his control. You can do all the things that you know to do, and then leave the rest to Jesus. He will work all things together for his good and yours. He is the only one who can.