Self-Sufficient part 2
We have everything we need because we have God. Jesus. Love. We have everything we need because we have... each other. Love is the bond that connects us to each other. Love is the bridge that allows us to share what we have with each other. Let me say it like this: "Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others" (Philippians 2:4). Because if I take care of you, and you take care of me, then neither one of us has to worry about ourselves. So this idea of self-sufficiency is more about understanding what we have... and using what we have. Sharing what we have. Giving what we have. If you're always chasing the carrot, but only ever getting the stick... that's too much. That's too hard. Too frustrating. That's not what our loving heavenly Father wants for us. He wanted the best for us, so He gave the best TO us. He gave us His only begotten Son. So that we might not perish, but have everlasting life. So that we might not struggle but experience and enjoy HIS abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Love! That's what it's all about, right? Living and loving? Because to live is to love and to love is to live. So if I have love I have everything I need. And, again, love is what connects us to each other. Because it's not good that man should be alone. It's not good for me to try to do everything by myself. It's too much. I can only do what I can do. And that's all I'm supposed to do. That's all I should be expected to do. I can't do your part. That's what makes it YOUR part. But if I do my part, and you do your part, then everything will get done. Like a famous football coach always says, "Just do your job." And that's the thing: There ARE things that I'm very capable of. Things that I know I was put here on this earth to do. So if I do those things... I'm doing my part. But if I don't do those things--even because I might be trying to do things that I'm not qualified or capable of doing--then not only am I probably going to mess things up by trying to overreach, but I'm also robbing the world of the things I CAN do. The things I'm SUPPOSED to do. So, what I think I'm trying to say in my usual roundabout way, is be you. Don't try to be someone you're not. You self-sufficiency comes from God. He is our sufficiency. He created you to be you. Specifically. And that means you don't have to worry about being anybody else or doing things that you're not called to do. Self-sufficiency, to me, doesn't mean isolating yourself and trying to do everything by yourself. It means doing everything you do in love. With love. Through love. Because of love. Doing your part, and linking up with other people to do their part. Things work out better when we work together. There are some things I can't do. That's just the way it is. But if I do what I CAN do--drawing on the power of God that works in me both to will and to do of HIS good pleasure--then I'm doing my part. I think tomorrow I want to focus on that very important word "HIS" good pleasure. Because being self-sufficient, having everything we need, is really about having everything HE (God) wants us to have. So that we can do what HE (God) wants us to do!