Do those thoughts ever cross your mind? To be honest, I have them a lot. I don't feel qualified to teach children about Jesus--what if I mess up and end up just teaching them to be good kids and fail to present the Gospel? I don't feel qualified to tell my friends about God--what if I just end up scaring them away? I don't even feel qualified to write for this blog!
You know what? I'm not. I'm not enough. I can't teach kids about Jesus; I can't tell my friends about Christ; I can't write these devotionals.
I heard a sermon this weekend about the 12 spies that we sent to take a peek at the Promised Land. If you don't know the story check it out in Numbers 13-14. Ten of these men came back with horrific reports, "We can't do it! It's too much! They'll squash us like grasshoppers!" However, two of them saw something different. The ten saw giants and enemies, but the two saw God. Joshua and Caleb never took their eyes off the LORD, and because of that, they saw His strength.
It's easy to have our eyes on the horizontal--it's here, it's right in front of us. But when we look at ourselves or the things around us, we will see our failure and how unqualified we are for the task that God has set before us. When we look at the [enemy] they'll be too big and we'll seem too small. God's will will seem impossible. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus. It is in Him that we find our strength.
Philippians 4:13 says, "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."
We need to have our eyes on the vertical-- that is where we find the strength to live for Christ. It's nothing that we can do to be "good enough" to lead someone to Christ, or teach VBS, or whatever it is that you may be facing right now. Let's face it, as humans, we're not qualified to live up to God's standards. We couldn't even achieve salvation on our own, that's why God sent Jesus.
Jesus is qualified. Jesus is strong enough. Jesus is good enough. Jesus can do this.
And in Him, in His strength, He will give you the strength to do the impossible. He even gives you the strength to worship God--we can't even do that on our own. We're pretty weak. However, our God is so big, so strong, and so mighty. There's nothing my God cannot do. And in Him, we have that strength too! Keep your eyes on Him, focus on the vertical, and all else will fade away.
Luke 1:37, "For nothing will be impossible with God."
I tried to find a recording of one of my favorite hymns, but apparently it's not as popular as I thought. So here are the lyrics to "I Look Not Back":
1. I look not back; God knows the fruitless efforts,
The wasted hours, the sinning, the regrets.
I leave them all with Him who blots the record,
And graciously forgives, and then forgets.
2. I look not forward; God sees all the future,
The road that, short or long, will lead me home,
And He will face with me its ev'ry trial,
And bear for me the burdens that may come.
3. I look not round me; then would fears assail me.
So wild the tumult of earth's restless seas,
So dark the world, so filled with woe and evil,
So vain the hope of comfort and of ease.
4. I look not inward; that would make me wretched;
For I have naught on which to stay my trust.
Nothing I see save failures and shortcomings,
And weak endeavors, crumbling into dust.
5. But I look up--into the face of Jesus,
For there my heart can rest, my fears are stilled;
And there is joy, and love, and light for darkness,
And perfect peace, and ev'ry hope fulfilled.
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