Step Into The Unknown
Do things get done more efficiently (or maybe just completed at all) if you do them yourself, yet you're exhausted and wish someone could help? Do you receive your self-worth from your accomplishments? In other words, if you do a lot of things well, do you think you're loved because of these things?
What if you're failing (or at least it feels like you're failing)? Are you putting unrealistic expectations on yourself? If you're anything like me and have too many expectations on yourself, take a step back along with a deep breath.
Maybe you need to be reminded that you are loved by the God who created you, not because of what you accomplish, but because of Who's you are. That doesn't mean that you settle because you can or that you stop striving for bigger things, but it gives you permission to just be. Just be still and know that He is God (Psalm 46:10).
Being loved solely for what you do is exhausting and it will eventually leave you empty. The ultimate question you should ask yourself if you get caught in this cycle is this, "Does what you're investing the most time in bear good fruit in your life?"
Deep down, we all want to be known and loved for who we are. Recently, the Lord has been exposing many of the areas where I think I have it all together. There are situations in my life where I am living in fear, but I didn't even realize it. The thought of surrendering these things to the Lord seems even more daunting than continuing to carry them myself. I often think to myself, "If I give these things to the Lord, I'm no longer in control of them." Yes, I know, I was never in control in the first place, but am I the only one who thinks I am at times?
Anyways, as I walk through the book of 2 Corinthians in a study our women’s bible study will be starting in a couple of weeks, I see Paul purposefully placing himself in uncomfortable situations in order to be nearer to God. Wow – I wish I could voluntarily place myself in the unknown so that the Lord would HAVE to show up. But wait, I can, and the Lord is calling me to that place just like He did Paul.
In her study, “All Things New”, Kelly Mentor says, "2 Corinthians is a letter of opposites. A letter about discovering the quiet joys of swimming upstream, despite the hoots and hollers from quick pleasures that zip by us with the current. It's a letter about the adventurous faith of hanging all our hopes on God, even though trusting our strength and pride to get us by almost always seems safer and more familiar. It's about an abiding peace at the ocean floor of our souls that oddly doesn't roll in after a visit to the spa, more assets in the portfolio, or a new white kitchen. Instead of having to earn or buy our peace, peace comes when our sins are no longer counted against us because God sent His Son Jesus into the world, who took our sins upon Himself. Paul calls this reconciliation."
When we step into the unknown place that forces us to stop relying on ourselves and start placing our trust on God, He reveals more to us than we could ever imagine. Are you willing to go there in order to draw nearer to the Lord?
