Most things I purchase that need put together are met with a “jump right in” attitude. In other words, in typical male fashion, I don’t read the instructions. I just start putting things together but then wonder why I have a handful of screws left at the end of the project.
I can be like that too when it comes to what God wants to do through me. But to find my purpose, I first have to let him do something IN ME. I generally don’t want to wait around for God’s work in me because I’m impatient and stubborn. I’d rather just get to the thing he wants me to do.
The disciples needed some coaching in this area because they didn’t seem to get what Jesus was trying to do in them. They were not seeing the people in front of them Jesus wanted to help, teach, heal, move, and grow. The disciples saw those people as a hindrance…an annoyance.
Examples of this attitude are found in Matthew 14, 15 and 19 where Jesus is doing ministry for some needy people but the disciples are oblivious. “Just tell them to go away…” is what the disciples say in a paraphrased version. But God will eventually do something in the disciples so that later he can do something through them.
We need God to do that in us as well but we need to check our hearts. How does our heart line up with the heart of Jesus?
Jesus tells a story in Mark 4 about a farmer who sowed some seed. Some seed fell on the road, some in the gravel, some in the weeds and some on good soil. Good soil is where God wants our heart to be. But it calls us to some self-reflection to discover how we are leaning into the things God wants to do IN us before he can do anything through us.
Some hearts are like the hard road and the minute the seed is planted, Satan removes the seed. Maybe you’ve become hard and cynical toward a spiritual journey and how God has called us to live in his son Jesus. Some symptoms of a hard heart might look like you’re going through the motions just checking off a list. Some might develop spiritual apathy having no prayer life, no time in the Word of God, no community with which to travel. Some might have bitter resentment toward God, blaming him for your current position in life.
Some of the seed falls on rocky hearts. You’ve heard the message of Jesus and are happy about it but you do nothing to cultivate the seed and create deep roots. The minute any “heat” is applied from the world, you’re shaken and lose spiritual momentum.
And some seed falls in weed-infested areas. The seed breaks the surface of the soil but other things in life crowd out its growth. Jesus says things like the worries of this life, the lure of wealth and the desires for other things are what choke out spiritual maturity. We are unwilling to let go of the things that are opposed to God’s will.
So where are you? What does God want to do IN your life to accomplish his work THROUGH your life? God has an extraordinary purpose of you but you and I need to fully surrender to him and allow the seed to change us from the inside out. When we do, God will do something incredible through you. Blessings on the journey.