Has the thought ever come to you that we are too caught up in “what we do” rather than “who we are”? The two are both important, but I all too often get too caught up in what I’m doing and forget to see if I am ready to be doing it. I can easily jump way ahead of God’s timeline and then it is no longer God’s Work I’m doing. I’m out there on my own thinking I’m doing God’s Work.

I write this due to this latest learning God is teaching me. One of the small groups I have is asked to give a brief talk this morning at our church’s men’s breakfast. The talk is to acquaint men to the curriculum we’re using which is Every Man A Warrior. My role in this is simply to introduce the ones talking about how the material has helped them. I have been pondering just what God would want me to say in doing this? As I began journaling this morning I asked God to let me know His message I’m to give. Well, as only God does, He showed me His message. My devotional message was all about God’s adequacy–not ours. Then my scripture reading was Psalms 51 which David wrote subsequent to the prophet Nathan confronting him due to his affair with Bathsheba.

As I finished the journaling, the devotional and the scripture reading, the message came. God wants us to be equipped to do the work He gives to us. But, the work is to be motivated by His nudge to us, not just because we see a need and “know we can fix it”. When we are working for Jesus, He is the One whose Light is shown. We do this when “who we are” is in that close relationship with God just as I’d written yesterday about Mother Teresa.

This curriculum is helping us to have the skills God wants us to use, but most importantly, building the relationship with God to know when those skills show Him in their use, not us.