Not On Our Own
Have you ever attempted to do something you were not skilled at? For example, you are not a contractor, but you tried to add a room on to your house. Or you are not trained as a chef, and yet you decided to cater an event. There was an I Love Lucy episode that had Lucy sewing her own dress and doing her own hair care. Two things she had never done before. In the end she didn’t end up looking so good. The problem was that she tried to it on her own with no guidance from anyone with sewing knowledge or hair care knowledge. Her goal was to save money. She might have still saved money if she had hired someone to sew it for her, instead shopping like she normally did downtown New York. Then she could have still had nice looking cheaper clothes and depended on someone else to do the work. Sometimes we have trouble giving control over to others. We want to do the work all on our own. Our pride gets in the way. However, God will give us assignments to do and not expect us to do it on our own. Read Philippians 4:12-13.
12 I know both how to have a little, and I know how to have a lot. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret [of being content]—whether well-fed or hungry, whether in abundance or in need. 13 I am able to do all things through Him who strengthens me.
God gives us instructions in these verses that for us to be able to do something for Him in His Kingdom work that we need to do it through Christ. We cannot do it on our own. It will not be 100% successful. It could come out fine, but it may not come out wonderful. God wants us to depend on Him to do the work. We are like the vessel that carries the water to water the plants. Our vessel won’t do much good for the plants if we don’t have the water in it. We need Jesus to control us and work through us. We cannot sew our own dress. We do not want to look like Lucy did. So hire a good tailor. Let Jesus take control. Let Him build your room, cater your dinner, sew your dress, and water your plants.
