This is the Big Thought that has captivated me this week. I was chatting with friends about fears that hold us back. In a flashing moment of revelation I realized one of the biggies for me is that I might mess things up somehow.
There are things I dream of doing, but I hesitate on the brink... I pause at the chicken line... I falter when I have opportunity to tell the random stranger, or more often, the people I regularly meet, how very much I sense God's love for them, the ways I see His goodness shining in their lives, because I might mess "it" up. Whatever "it" is?
This seems like a very good question. What exactly is the "it" that I think I might mess up?
Is He not big enough to work through and in spite of my idiosyncrasies and awkwardness? Is it anything other than His incredible Spirit working in us and through us that accomplishes the glorious?
I think He really just wants our willingness, our "yes". He can work with that. Flawless execution is not required... How is it that I could imagine that my getting "it" right is what's going to make anything effective?
The fact that He's willing to risk using fragile and imperfect human beings provokes a sense of awe... He's willing to risk it, why aren't I?
Praying for more courage and boldness. And a better sense of perspective.
I [Paul] was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate--
I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it--
and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else.
But the Message came through anyway.
God's Spirit and God's power did it...
It is not by force nor by strength,
I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it--
and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else.
But the Message came through anyway.
God's Spirit and God's power did it...
It is not by force nor by strength,
but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies.
1 Corinthians 2:3-4 MSG; Zechariah 4:6 NLT
