As a Christian, I’m always in tension. I’m torn between being absorbed in self-improvement, and being fully submitted to God. And as an added complication, I’m supposed to protect myself- but not on my own strength? And what does that even mean?
More importantly, where do we draw the line between what we should do and what God should do?
You see these conflicts between Man and God all the time- every time you hear about a Christian entrepreneur going out of business. Every time someone says “God helps those who help themselves.” Or a loved one, whom you’ve prayed for healing over, dies from a degenerative disease and your church family says “it’s because you didn’t have enough faith.” (That’s horrible, by the way. Don’t ever say that to someone. Jesus should punch you in the mouth if you do.)
What does it mean to fully, completely, unquestioningly rely on God for absolutely everything? I don’t really know, and I won’t stop seeking until I find out.
But what I do know, I’ve learned from years of trying to do certain things on my own, and failing miserably.
This is what I want to discuss today: how to fail at listening to God. (I’m an expert.)
Let’s start with self-improvement. This is a topic you’ll find lots of inspiration about. Entire industries have been built around the idea of teaching you how to improve different aspects of your life.
Once upon a time, I was completely absorbed in physical self-improvement. It was the first thing I thought about when I woke, and the last thing I thought about when my head hit my pillow. Every single thing I did was framed around how it would affect my fitness, my cycling, and my diet.
To be honest, losing 40 pounds and getting fit didn’t require me to pay God any attention at all. I did it completely with my own willpower. No supernatural intervention was necessary. I just made up my mind that I would diet and ride my bike as much as humanly possible, and that’s what I did.
Notice, I said humanly possible.
I didn’t ask for God’s permission, guidance, or blessing over any of it. And ultimately, I worshipped fitness. It ruled my life, and all my decisions.
Until God took it all away.
Does that make pursuit of fitness inherently evil? Of course not. It’s just a goal. What matters is in how you approach achieving that goal.
How do you know?
If you’re like me, sometimes you come up with ideas that look good on paper, but are doomed to failure in reality. How can you tell if your idea is something worth pursuing? How do you know if it’s something that’s destined to fail?
How do you handle wanting to pursue something that isn’t inherently bad, but isn’t what God wants you to do just yet? When is the right time, if at all?
It think answering these questions boils down to three things you must factor in while making life-altering plans:
- Situation
- Submission
- Scripture
What do I mean by these? Simply this:
For me to follow through with a plan, it has to be something that’s relevant to my current situation, it will always require me to be submissive to God’s will, and it must not go against principles laid out in scripture.
If it fails any one of these three things, then that’s a no from me, dawg.
I’ll give quick examples of all three.
- A friend says “I feel like you should get involved in this ministry, it’s helping people in a way you’re really gifted in. It’s during the day, though, not in the evenings.”
This one fails the “situation” test. There’s no way I will risk hurting my family’s income by frequently skipping out at work. God calls us to minister, yes- but my family is my most important and most time-consuming ministry. They always should come first, and risking my job is very bad for my family.
- I feel the desire to spend copious amounts of time working on a music project for “ministry” purposes. My friends (and motivational speakers) all tell me that I should work very hard and achieve my dream through brute force of will and determination.
This fails the “submission” test. I’m not submitting anything to God if I think I can make some success happen without His explicit direction. Could I have some measure of success on my own strength? Maybe, but it won’t look anything like the kind of success I’d have if God was in charge of it.
- A speaker comes to our church and proclaims “Any business venture you start will be blessed by God, because He says ‘Anything you ask for in my name shall be given to you!’ That’s straight from the mouth of Jesus!”
This one fails the “scripture” test. Yes, Jesus said that, but as usual with prosperity teachers, it’s taken grossly out of context. If you don’t know your Bible, it might sound good on the surface! “God wants me to be successful, right?” Yes, but not at the cost of #2, submitting to his will.
And for the record, I’ve had all three of these situations arise in my life, just in the last year or two. This is reality. The world wants you to take on something “good” in exchange for what’s best- namely, continually seeking God’s direction and guidance in everything that matters. That’s scriptural. That’s what’s best.
Setting Goals with God
It’s important to make the distinction between human goals and Godly goals. For one, God always follows through on His plans. Always. So if your “plan for success” doesn’t go the way you think it should, then it’s probably (almost surely) not God’s will- at least for now.
So what do you do when your supposedly foolproof spiritual plans fail?
Do you blame God? Do you blame your friends? Do you blame your circumstances? Do you blame God for your circumstances?
The simple answer is that you didn’t wait on God’s approval for your plan.
Now, let me make a distinction: I’m not saying you have to wait for God to tell you every single thing to do. “I can’t leave the house, God hasn’t told me which shoes to wear yet!” That’s ridiculous. You can come up with ideas, plans, and so forth. You’re allowed to be creative. You can think for yourself.
But before you commit to a life-changing plan of action, you should spend at least as much time petitioning God for guidance about how to go about it. And sometimes, the answer you’ll get back is “you shouldn’t do this.”
God is not obligated to lay out and explain your future, either. He’s not going to tell you “I want you to do X for a year, then switch to Y for 8 months, and then pursue Z until I get back with you. Good luck, see you then!” That’s not how God works.
The goal God wants for us isn’t something specific to do. It’s the continual process of seeking Him, first and foremost, that He wants from us. Nothing less, nothing more.
It doesn’t really matter what we do if we’re earnestly seeking God’s face continually, because if we’re doing that, He’ll show us what to do (or not do) when it’s necessary.
In conclusion:
That little story about me pursuing fitness really happened to me. And because I didn’t heed the three warning signs, I crashed and burned horribly. My situation was all wrong- my family wasn’t really able to bear the burden of me spending every waking moment absorbed with cycling. My relationship with God barely got a second thought. And I was neglecting several mandates clearly outlined in scripture.
So, after everything was said and done, I’m thankful that God broke me. He used that time to reinforce my spiritual walk, and the results of that growth over the last eight years have been huge. It changed everything- not overnight- but steadily and surely moving in the right direction.
“Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
–Matthew 6:31-33 (Jesus speaking)
Notice how Jesus says “the gentiles eagerly seek all these things.” But he goes on to say we should eagerly seek the Kingdom of God instead. And then we’ll have what we need.
That’s pretty much all there is to it.