Great Summer Plans

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

So if people, positions, or possessions do not offer freedom or the solution for enjoying a complete life, what is the solution? Galatians 5:16 (NIV) supplies the answer: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to conduct our lives “by the Spirit.” This requires a relationship with God’s Spirit in which we dependently trust Him with all our needs. The catch is that brokenness is a prerequisite: we cannot depend on God without first giving up our willfulness. We must give up the right to want what we want and trade it for wanting what God wants. “But I don’t want to give up what I want,” you may whine. Then you are not ready for a desperately dependent relationship on God that results in a life that is divinely enabled. This relationship begins by giving up our self-centered lives in exchange for Christ-centered lives that result from the forgiveness of sin. Without giving up our willfulness, we cannot know the heart of God and want what He wants.

Independent inclinations thrust individuals further into crisis, which perpetuates an unending cycle of futility. At best, self-effort can only temporarily affect the crisis of our lives; it can do nothing to address the deeper problem of sin. In fact, self-effort exacerbates the problem, actually increasing the intensity of the nature of sin’s impact on us. Now we have, as a result of our best solutions, even more guilt, shame, and fear. We are even more alienated from God than before. We only sink deeper into the bondage of our sinfulness. Because of humanity’s depravity, we are stuck in the unending, self-perpetuating cycle. Demoting God as the authority; promoting self as the authority; and exploiting people, positions, and possessions for personal empowerment.

The fallout from independently contrived solutions intensifies the symptoms of the sin nature, thereby provoking an even greater crisis. No matter what we do, we are still falling apart. We are still at the place of redemptive need. Only God can help us.
Christ’s redemptive process can only be participated in through the power of Christ as He addresses the nature of sin by bringing us to brokenness. The willingness to give up our willfulness to Christ in exchange for His enabling us to submit to His will, removes our resistance to entering into Christ’s redemptive process. Christ’s redemptive process is characterized by dependence on Him as we see ourselves in desperate need of Him.

Because of Christ’s satisfaction of the sin debt, He can redeem us from our sinful selves and all the crises we have created. He resolves the symptoms of the sin nature—guilt, shame, and fear—and reconciles us to fellowship with God, restoring love, joy, and peace. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2 NLT).

Unfortunately, we must still contend with the nature of sin resident within us. Self-sufficiency tempts us to reenter the futile cycle dominated by the nature of sin in our lives. But gratefully, at the point of salvation, we are blessed with a new set of options. No longer are we bound by the power of sin; we may now choose from His abundant resources and allow His divine enablement to personally empower us.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3–4 NLT)

God is extending deliverance to us as we rely on Him. “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” (Zech. 4:6 NLT). The question is, will you in your desperation depend on God? Will you respond to the invitation God gives to you? Will you continue in your self-effort? Will you believe the same lies? Will you commit the same sins? Will you experience the same problems over and over again? Or will you realize that you are a child of the King with an inheritance already in your possession?

God’s job is to bring us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whatever holy means are appropriate. God uses love to promote purity (1 John 3:1–3), goodness to promote repentance (Rom. 2:4), patience to promote redemption (Luke 8:4–15), discipline to produce maturity (Heb. 12:5–10), and pain to promote growth (Heb. 12:11). God uses trials to bring us to completion (James 1:2–4), tribulation to produce hope (Rom. 5:3–5), trauma of truth to produce brokenness (2 Cor. 7:8–11), and thorns in the flesh to produce dependency (2 Cor. 12:7–10). All His blessings are for achieving the one purpose of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This endeavor is His most important task. All facets of God’s economy function to produce Jesus’ image within our souls, bringing glory to Him as we depend on Him. God produces His essence within us as we yield to Him.

God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.

Insight Journal
Which willful plan do you need to give up for a great summer with God?
Write a personal psalm to pour out your heart to God.