Make This Happen

ByJim Stephens

Reading:  1 Thessalonians 5; Psalm 52

23 Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. 24 God will make this happen, for he who calls you is faithful.  (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 NLT)

Life gets complicated! Sometimes it’s hard to keep focused. Sometimes it seems like I’m a juggler trying to keep five tennis balls in the air. Sometimes I feel like a circus performer spinning plates on sticks, trying to keep them all spinning, trying not to let one wobble and fall. I know about values and about priorities and that some things are really important while others are merely urgent.

I know that being (becoming) the person God has called me to be is as important as (more important than?) doing the things he has called me to do. And I also know that at any given time, I’m probably trying to get done things I’ve dreamed up to do or that others have dreamed up for me to do, and not really focusing effectively on what really matters.

So what’s to be done? I can’t stop everything, drop everything, and just work on the “inner me”—on getting “Holy”! Paul told the Christians in Thessalonica that it was God himself who would make them holy and whole, put it all together – spirit, soul, and body – and keep them ready and fit for Jesus’ return. It’s all up to God, and he is completely dependable.

The key to all this—the key to my whole spirit, soul, and body being kept blameless and holy in God’s eyes is not my spirituality, not my heroic effort, but God’s dependability and faithfulness. Herein lies the paradox of the Christian life – it’s my responsibility to live it, but it’s only God who makes that possible.

Living the life of faith is a paradoxical and miraculous blend of my responsibility and God’s dependability. God will make this happen!

Prayer:

Father, I accept my responsibility to live the life and I acknowledge my total and complete dependence on your total and complete dependability. I don’t even know for sure if that makes sense the way I’ve just written it, but you know what I mean. Thanks!