This is one of the things I’ve been struggling with understanding. Today I’m intentionally plagiarizing. This comes right from my church’s app, Verve Catalyst. (www.vivalaverve.org). They post a daily reading and then break it down so emerging Christians like me can understand Bible verses.
Monday it was about Romans 10, written by Paul. Although I’m still internalizing it, this is what they said that I found helpful.
“We get to choose whether we will approach God through trying or through trusting. Here are some distinctions:
- Trying says, ‘I obey; therefore, I am accepted.’ Trusting says, ‘I’m accepted; therefore I obey.’
- Trying has fear and insecurity as motivation. Trusting has grateful joy as the motivation.
- People who are trying get angry with God when circumstances go wrong because they think they deserve a comfortable life from God. People who trust struggle when circumstances go wrong, but they know God is still in control and things will ultimately be okay.
- People who try spend most of their time telling God what they want. People who trust spend much of their prayer time thanking and praising God.
- People who try base their identity and self-worth on how they perform and will often be either proud or self-loathing and look down on others. People who trust have their identity and self-worth centered on Jesus, which allows them to avoid pride and self-loathing and looking down on others.”
I’m still working on this. I can see my own growth in the right direction since a couple of years ago. I can also see that I’m not through growing. How about you? Are you trying or trusting?
Thank you, God for Grace, Truth, Love, and Laughter,
Darren
(Reminder, this is just a journal of my mistakes, experiences, and thoughts along with my journey to having a closer relationship to God. I do not claim to be an authority on the subject. If you want to know The Way, read The Bible.)
What church do I attend? Verve Church in Las Vegas
http://vivalaverve.org
P.S. Thank you, especially, for grace.
Want to see more God Blog posts?:
https://darrenlacroix.com/category/godblog/
Thanks Darren. I needed that one.