Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
Our Verse of the Day is really important for us to take hold of in our lives, because it gets at something that I think is essential for the person who’s seeking to follow the way of Jesus on earth. The thing that it’s trying to get us to see is that there is resource available to us to walk out this walk that isn’t dependent on our own strength.
In Our Own Strength
I start by saying that because I think sometimes, if we’re not careful, so much of what we experience here on earth in the way of Jesus is dependent upon what we would describe as our ability to do the things that we’re supposed to do in our own strength and in our own resource.
I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with people who have been disappointed with how much time they’ve dedicated, or how little time, should I say, to studying the Bible. Maybe how little time they spend in prayer. Maybe their lack of participation in opportunities to serve other people or be generous with their funds. When they talk about these things, they talk about them as though their spiritual health is contingent upon their activity that they have either decided to do or not do in their own strength.
The reason I point that out is I think a lot of us feel like, in those times when we’re not able to bring our full self to the table to do the things that we know we’re supposed to do, we’re just not training up our bodies with enough strength to be able to carry out what God would expect of us.
But what if the way we’re supposed to look at it is a little bit different?
What Leads to Flourishing
I actually think today’s verse tells us the difference for how we can live here on earth: that there’s a training up that’s available for the body. In other words, our physicality and what we can do and animate in our own strength is something that’s important to pay attention to. But when it comes to the Christian life, the training up of godliness is actually what leads to sustainability, and I would even say flourishing as a person of faith on earth.
A Hidden Life with God
The way that I like to think about this is from a quote that I heard a long time ago by a man named Henri Nouwen. He said, “If we don’t have a hidden life with God, our public life for God cannot bear fruit.”
What I want you to notice is that he doesn’t say that we can’t do ministry kinds of things, that we can’t do good things without a hidden life with God. We can. To be honest, from the appearance of things, it might be really great. What he says is, true sustainability, true fruitfulness, comes from a life that is trained up in godliness in hidden places.
It’s not about what people can see. It’s not about the actions that people can judge by the optics. It’s about your connection with the living God and allowing Him permission to do the work on the inside of us that will lead to work that comes out of us.
Living With God
I don’t know where you’re at on your journey of faith today. Maybe you’re feeling depleted. Maybe you’re feeling like you’ve been pouring out and trying the best that you can in your own strength to do the right things for God. What if maybe we reimagine things? What if we begin to say we want a hidden life that has communion and connection with the Spirit of God, and we cease to do things for God, and we begin to live with God?
Be encouraged today that this is possible. Training up in godliness can lead to fruitfulness in this life.
