“Don’t think you are better than you really are.” Romans 12:3a NLT
Sometimes I just don’t have it.
The “it” in this moment being some well thought out devotional. This is my third rewrite and I am not even sure how it will end. But what I am sure of is this: I don’t have a great profound thought at the moment and that is okay.
This is by no means my attempt at excusing the production of anything lackluster. Instead, I am using this time as a reminder that I don’t always have to know what to say. I don’t always have to have it all figured out. God doesn’t expect me to.
Which is a hard truth to live because I oftentimes feel like I should know what to say or I should have all of the things figured out. I mean, shouldn’t I always have a word in my holster ready to cock back and aim it at anyone who I might perceive as the intended target?! Encouraging or not (hello, somebody!). But where does this ideology even come from? The idea that we always have to show up prepared and well put together. What a burden to bear.
Especially when the invitation that Jesus offers in Matthew 11:28 counters this notion. Jesus says, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.”
The God who created us in His image knows that we are limited and frail in our humanity, thus allowing us grace to be limited and frail in our humanity.
But the truth is pride rages war against our ability to acknowledge that limitation. So instead of taking the Lord up on His offer to rest, we put on our cracked masks and attempt to offer an exhausted worship. But Romans 12:3, warns us to not think that we are better than we really are. Rather we should be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, measuring ourselves by the faith God has given us.
Please hear me, I do believe that we should strive to be prepared for the things that God has called us to do but let God do the preparing. Our sole aim should not be to show up to impress or appear to have it all figured out but to humbly submit to God’s authority and allow our lives to reflect His grace and works in and through us.
Help us Lord. Let the posture of our hearts be to deny pride yet crave humility. Help us to pursue the same humbling posture, our savior, Jesus took when He gave up His life on the cross for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Dear reader, this is your permission to not have it all figured out. This is your reminder to constantly and consistently repent of pride and a valuing of self based on worldly standards. God created you in His image, so your identity is rooted in Christ alone; nothing else. And that same Christ is inviting you into His rest. So rest well especially when you just don’t have “it”.