Relying on God

We have no power, but that which is given from above. It was a point that Jesus made clear to Pilate during His passion. All power on earth, all that we have and possess is bestowed upon us by God. This is a point that we would strive to remember as we go through our daily lives. Even our choices are a gift from God; hence, free will.

Recognizing that all power and strength comes from above, we should constantly have recourse to our loving Father, for it becomes futile to go about living merely by our own strength which will surely fail us at some point or another, especially when it comes to true Christian living. Human kind has a predisposition to sin.  This is of course a result of our ancestors fall from grace and it is for this reason that we must battle concupiscence (inclination and weakness drawing us to sin).  Still, more important to note, is that fact that we are often engaged in battle, but our battle is not with people per se; rather, it is a battle with principalities and powers, a battle against the spiritual world and it is a fight we are sure to lose unless we trust and love our Lord enough to allow him to help us and subvert our own prideful attitudes. Another important fact to mind is that fallen angels, demons, would happily tear us asunder if they were not chained and restricted by our loving God, but they are still able to influence and tempt us. These creatures have existed for countless millennia and are much wiser than we can hope to be, and it is particularly in such struggles that we must rely upon God and His power, for it is the only thing that can save us from such chicanery and evil. The demonic infinitely hate us, while God infinitely loves us.

 

It is a given that temptation abounds in our lives, and that our fallen nature attracts us to many things which transgress God’s commandments, but there exists two ways of living that we must be aware of: the way of the world and the way of God. The way of the world is enticing, and draws us to a very easy path (a slippery slope that leads to perdition) that promises us comfort, riches, an attitude which lets us define right and wrong according to our standard; essentially a relativistic attitude. The path of God is different, it calls us to perfection. In fact, Christ tells us that we must be perfect as He is. This is no easy goal for human. Already, we have seen a loving God who allowed himself to suffer for all humanity and loves without limits. What is more is that His love has been manifest to us and has even been shown to those who hate Him. 

Consider the scene at Calvary, and see our crucified Savior looking down upon the masses of people who are berating Him and mocking Him. He sees his mother weeping at his feet. His body hurts in ways we cannot even comprehend, yet even as he hangs there dying, he says “Father forgive them. They know not what they do.” This is an amazing demonstration of love. What is even more apparent, is that He is loving those who do not love Him back, and this is the sort of love we are called have, and which is diametrically opposed the worldly way of living. A good point to note is that we cannot love like this without the grace and love of God. It transcends our initial inclinations, but is the sort of perfection we must strive for. Therefore, it is truly futile to rely merely on our own strength to accomplish such ends.

To strive for perfection, to be like God, requires us to rely upon Him and love Him enough to trust Him to provide for us in all aspects of life. In the bible, it points out to us that God provides for the birds of the world. He ensures that they are fed and taken care of and if He cares so much for such simple creatures, how much more would care for us who are made in His image and likeness? (see Mt. 6:26) However, our God is a loving God and will respect our decision to reject Him. Therefore, if we do not trust Him enough or love enough to rely upon and instead do things by our own efforts, He will let us, but we will often find that we will fall short when things are done by own power or they will be in essence incomplete.

In our daily living, we should communicate with God through prayer and express our love and reliance upon Him in big and small matters, and when times become difficult, we should turn to Him and ask Him to supply His grace upon us that we may not fall into occasions of sin, but more importantly that we seek His will in all things. In this way of living, we will find that problems that were once so difficult are now quite simple. There will be direction in our lives and we will find that the battles we so often fought against our fallen nature slowly become easier. It is then that we will be relying on His power and not our own. Remember, God is all powerful. We on the other hand are not. We must rely upon God to truly understand right and wrong, to truly understand love, and ultimately to achieve that perfection that will allows us to behold Him in heaven.