This week I want to continue discussing things that a mature Christian does. The first thing we looked at was that mature Christians quit pointing out the sins of other and start confessing their own. Last week we talked how mature Christians control their tongues. This week I want us to look at a third thing, mature Christians depend less on themselves and more on Christ.
We live in a society that tells us that we can do it, that there is nothing out of our reach. The problem is that ins’t the case. We can’t work hard and earn everything! To be saved we have to humble ourselves and know that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves except by faith accept Jesus and his gift of Salvation. That is just the first step we make as a Christian. As life goes on and we hopefully mature we realize that we aren’t in control of what happens in our life and if we try to control everything and figure we can make it work the way we want to that we are way off base.
I saw this play out with my daughter Hannah just recently. Her husband joined the Army and has been away for months now while he is at basic training. He called her a few weeks ago and told her what the plan was. She was excited and started getting everything set up and ready to go. She is Mrs Organized to the extreme. Then a few weeks later she got another phone call informing her that everything had changed. She jokingly told me she needed to burn her planner because it was all messed up. It was so great to hear her say, “Dad I am realizing that I don’t really have any control over what happens in my life. God does and I just have to learn to go with it.” Those may not have been her exact words but that was the gist of what she was saying. It was time for her to let go and let God as we have often heard.
I have shared my story in a previous post how I chose what I wanted to do coming out of high school and college over what God wanted me to do and how that all played out. Needless to say, I wasn’t a very mature Christian even though I had been a Christian for several years. Now I know that I have to work hard, I have to do my best, but most importantly I need to trust that God has everything under control and no matter if things go the way I want them to or not that it is for my better and his glory!
John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.