Thursday, July 09, 2015

HOW DO WE DO MORE THAN WE CAN DO?

God has been assuring us all along that we possess something we need very badly; yet we move through life unaware of this trait.  Sometimes we simply forget.  I speak of doing things that we can't get done.

Positive thinking.  Go for the gold.  Be a winner.  These and other sloganish statements push us to do better.  Eventually, even if we are ambitious, we fizzle in some arenas. Nada.  Nothing.  Done.  Failed.  Life is bigger than both our talent and our wishful thinking.

Yet, we do have a way to win.  A spectacular way.  A divine way.

The Holy Spirit of God resides within us to work.  Romans 8:26-28 is a masterful elaboration of what the Spirit does with, through, and for us.  In our weaknesses the Spirit helps us to the extent that anything and everything that goes against us works to advantage us.  This is another reason why I treasure the realm of God.

God functions beyond the best of the best minds of men and women.

What do you think the fruit of the Spirit is?  Faster legs for running marathons? Stronger arms for throwing footballs?  Better eyes for effective and detailed sewing? What?

The Spirit bears in us what we can't (on our own) when the tough stuff hits.  When we can't do life any longer, He causes patience to nudge us forward.  If a neighbor has exasperated us for the last time, love for him or her will begin to arise if the Spirit of God is allowed to bear fruit from within us.

This is how we do more than we can do.  It isn't us because we have about had it with those stupid irresponsible people.  It is that hope overshadows all of our short-term negative conclusions because the Spirit of God is pleading within us, Let me take a stab at this!  Together!  Together, we can do this!

Men and women are far too quick to give up on ourselves and one another.  While high walls and dark storms face us, we have a way to win that the flesh knows nothing about. We work in tandem with the Holy Spirit.  Our job is to yield.  His job is to produce.

With Him, we can do more than we can do.

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