You read that header correctly: Don´t Live for God.
Kudos to Emily, my sister in Christ, for revealing this to me. My whole mentality about my relationship with God has been changed thanks to her willingness to hash out what this means.
So don´t live for God. Live from God.
Live from God. Be rooted in God. Don´t depend on your own ability to pursue God. Don´t depend on your own ability to glorify God.
We´re called to be vessels of God. And by definition of our identity of children of God, we´re called to let God be the One who pumps through our veins. We´re called to hand our lives over so that God can pour a flood of God´s glory through us.
I have been trying sooo hard to pump out the glory of God. I have been trying soo hard to pursue God and God´s will. But here´s the thing…because we´re children of God, our sole responsibility is to f.r.o.g. (fully rely on God). Although we can serve God by doing acts of service, our ¨good works¨ (which totally glorify God) that we strive to pump out ARE NOT the basis for being a child of God.
So we claim the identity of child of God. What the snap does that mean?
Instead of me working hard to pump out a tiny stream of God´s glory, I get to f.r.o.g. I get to just be. I get to live rooted in God. I get to draw my strength and courage from God. I don´t have to worry about ¨making sure I´m spending my time on earth correctly¨in order to give God the glory God so righteously deserves.
I never liked the story about Jesus visiting Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42). Jesus goes to Martha and Mary´s house, and while Martha serves Jesus with house hospitality, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens. Martha gets upset, because she´s serving Jesus (her visitor) by being a hospital host while her sister isn´t being hospital.
Jesus points out that she (Martha) is worried about soo many things in order to serve Jesus, while Mary worries about one thing — building a relationship with Jesus by just sitting and listening.
Mary´s relationship with Jesus is not nearly as destracted as Martha´s relationship with Jesus. While Martha serves Jesus in her ability to pump out hospitality, Mary serves Jesus by being completely keyed in to His words and presence. Although both sisters are serving Jesus and growing their relationship with Him, Jesus says that Mary has chosen what´s better.
Therefore, although both sisters serve Jesus, it´s better to be able to sit (undistracted) in God´s presence and just listen. It´s better for us, as children of God, to build our relationship with our sole focus on God. It´s better for us to be undistracted with all the service. Good works are key. Good works are integral. We will do good works that glorify God, however we don´t have to rely on our own ability to pump out this glory.
Our sole focus and concern is to f.r.o.g. We need to fully rely on God by just sitting, listening, and building our relationship with God. In doing so, God will reveal what needs to be done. God will pump out God´s glory.
