2 Lessons from a Young Boy – Part 2

As I mentioned in my last post, as much as I intellectually and theologically know God loves me regardless of my performance, I can still fall into the subtle trap of feeling like I need to prove to Him that I’m worth loving.Sometimes I act as if God’s weighing the balance to see if I’m worth it and I want to do something to reassure Him that I’m not a waste of His sacrifice. Gratefully, that’s not how our Heavenly Father views His children. Beyond our human comprehension, He loves us without conditions. Such a foreign thought for us to understand!In 1 Samuel 3, we saw last week that the Lord is the One who initiates. Our job is not to prove ourselves or to perform, but to have ears to listen for the Lord. What Eli, the priest, told Samuel in a literal sense is the same instructions we should also heed. When we hear the Lord calling, our job is to let Him know we’re listening. But let’s take it a step further.We must go beyond listening. We must respond.[bctt tweet="We must go beyond listening to the Lord. We must respond."]It’s God’s job to initiate. Our job is to respond. This begins at salvation. We love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). Whether we realize it or not, we respond to the Lord drawing us to Himself. Many of us believe this for salvation, but stop believing it as our faith journey continues. We think we must jump through hoops or say magic words to unlock the next phase of growth in our walk. We accidentally economize our faith and think that if we worked a little harder, prayed a little more, or proved ourselves better than the next gal that would get us to the next rung up the spiritual ladder.Listening alone is not enough. We must listen so we can respond. But responding to God is a much different assignment than attempting to prove ourselves.[bctt tweet="Responding to God is very different from proving ourselves to Him."]I wonder if you’ve ever got this all twisted like me? I leave you with 2 questions to apply these truths to your life:Where are you currently trying to prove yourself?What if you stepped back and realized God isn’t looking for a person who’s good enough? He doesn’t have to settle for good enough. Jesus was perfect. Yet He chooses to use us.Is it possible you’re so busy proving your worth to God, to yourself or to others that you’ve crowded out that time when you would listen for the Lord’s direction? If that’s you, I urge you to replace 20 minutes of “doing” today for 20 minutes of listening. God isn’t obligated to speak today, but by breaking the cycle of performance and being willing to listen, you exchange an unhealthy habit with a healthy one.Where are you pushing forward with your own plan instead of responding to God’s?If the Lord brings something to mind, consider this His compassionate care for you. As much as we like the idea of our own plan, the most dangerous place for us to be is outside God’s protection, doing our own thing. What do you need to do to walk back your plan so you can listen and respond to God’s?