Beyond Ourselves

A friend had been coming to Bible study and one day I encouraged her to receive Jesus Christ as her Savior and Lord.

"Oh, I could never live the Christian life," she said. "You don't know how miserably weak I am."

"But that's precisely the person whom God can bless," I said. Then I told my friend the story of the light bulb.

"See this light bulb. It was created to generate light, right? But on its own it fails miserably. It has no power of its own to shine. Now watch this: you plug it into the power source and it lights up. It generates heat and light. By depending on another power, it can function as intended.

None of us can live the Christian life in our own steam. We need to get plugged into God through Jesus Christ. The moment we receive Jesus Christ into our lives, we receive His resurrection power. We become spiritually alive. We begin to function in our God-given way.

But we must stay plugged into God, that is, be totally dependent upon Him. What would happen if a light bulb suddenly decided, "I've been dependent upon electicity long enough? I think I can do this on my own now?" It would lose its light. It would lose its power. It would cease to function properly. In the same way, we need to stay plugged into Christ in order to function as a Christian. How do we stay plugged in on a moment-by-moment basis?

1. Read the Bible daily. Read a portion until something clicks with you. Write out the words. Say them often throughout the day.

2. Obey what you read. It does no good to read the Bible and then disregard what it says. It's like a person who looks into the mirror and sees that his face needs washing but does nothing about it.

3. Pray about everything. Come to God with your questions, concerns, joys and sorrows. Pour out your hearts to Him. Ask Him to forgive you and cleanse you when you've done something wrong.

4. Despite your feelings, thank God that the power of Christ is within you now, then act upon it. How? Tell Jesus, "This is way over my head. I depend on You to work through me." Then go do it. You'll be thrilled and amazed at what happens next and you'll know God did it through you.

Jesus, You said that without You I can do nothing. I depend on You for strength and wisdom and courage and all that I need to live this day for you. Thank you for Your faithfulness. Amen