Five Ways We Hinder the Flow of God's Work in Our Lives
Mark 6
Mark 6
In yesterday's introduction, we found Jesus in His hometown in His home synagogue confronted by his friends and family when He begins living out His calling among them. Because of their reaction to Him, Jesus was unable to do much in His hometown - just healing a few - before moving on to other places where His ministry would be received.
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| Photo by Justin Camp |
We too struggle with some of the same attitudes and doubts that have the potential of stopping the work of God in our lives and in our midst. We called them dams because they hinder the flow of God's work, and we found them in the 5 scoffing questions people asked about Jesus when He tried to come home and minister. Each question encapsulates an attitude or doubt that might keep God from doing all He could do on our behalf.
Dam 1) Where did He get these things?
Jesus had just finished opening the Scriptures and speaking in the synagogue, and I can't imagine that the guy who was left in Jerusalem as a twelve year old astounding the rabbis had never done so again. Surely they'd heard Him open the Torah before. But something was different this time. He was different, and it bothered people. You can nearly hear a thousand other questions behind this one - where did He get this understanding, this authority, this boldness. Basically, what is going on here? Something was different and they couldn't figure it out.
Oh that pesky need to know, that mental wrestling to understand what's going on, can really trip us up can't it? Not that our faith would ask you to check your brains at the door, but sometimes we want answers that aren't going to come. We feel a need to process our thoughts and work out our questions before we're comfortable moving forward. And that's it - that need to know, that propensity to lean on our own understanding instead of trust God will build a dam and keep God from doing His work in our lives.
What life event are you trying to make sense of that simply doesn't make sense? What late night "Cirque-Du-Soleil"-like mental acrobatics are keeping you awake trying to sort out your life when God is asking you to let it go and just trust Him? Let go of trying to figure it all out and just believe that God can work it out.
At the heart of this question, I think we are confronted by our own personal belief system. There is a wisdom about living according to godly principles. Who isn't better off for living a life that is kind to others, generous, financially vigilant, morally pure? But that's not a very distinguishing feature among people with and without faith. You can be good and not know God. You can be generous and financially responsible and not believe that Jesus was God. You can be morally pure and never accept the free gift of eternal life that God offers you through Jesus.
Sometimes we accept a religion of good behavior that falls short of a life experiencing the power of God. We've learned how to be good independent of the Holy Spirit. We've learned how to do good within our own capabilities, resources and skill-set; and in doing so, we've built a dam that's kept us from experiencing the greater work of God in our lives by making our faith about what we do and not about what God wants to do in us and through us.
Have you settled for a religion of good behavior? Or are you waiting on and expecting mighty works in your life beyond your own capabilities?
Tomorrow we'll address the final three dams we build that keep God from doing His work in us based on the final three questions the people of Nazareth asked about Jesus that day.
Dam 3) Is this not the Carpenter?
Dam 4) Isn't this the son of Mary and brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon?
Dam 5) Aren't His sisters here with us?