Am I Getting In The Way of God?

It seems like a strange question to ask, but let us ask it, are you getting in the way of having a great relationship with God?  When we begin to look at most relationships that go wrong, it mostly because one or both people involved are too focused on themselves.  We live in a society that tells us day in and day out that it is about us, what makes us happy.  When I first got married I would go and buy flowers for Autumn every couple of weeks, I would buy her things and do all kinds of things for her.*  Then we would get into a fight and I would say look at all I do for you, I thought all these things I did would make her realize what a great husband I am. I believe we do the same thing with God, we do all kinds of stuff and then say look at all I have done for you.  We all have this draw to be self-centered; we want what is going to make our life better.  We want the whole thing without having to give up anything.  So we come to God and we hear that He wants to have a loving relationship with and we say, “that is great, I can do this for God.”   We go out and start making all kinds of plans of how we can do things for a God that loves us.

The thing is God doesn’t  ask that we do things for Him but that we spend time in fellowship with Him.  We tend to be asking the wrong question.  We are asking “what is God’s will in my life?” When we  should be asking “what is God’s will?”  Notice the difference in the two questions, the latter question we are taking me out of the picture and putting God first.  Richard Blackaby puts it this way, “because people are naturally self-centered, we tend to view the whole world—even God's activity—in terms of our own lives. Of course, we want to know what we should do and how events will affect us. But that is actually an inverted life-perspective. Once I know God's will, then my life gains its proper perspective, and I can adjust my life to Him and to His purposes. In other words, what is it that God is purposing to accomplish where I am? Once I know what God is doing, then I see what I should do. My focus needs to be outward on God and His purposes, not inward on my life.”

Christ tells us this, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.”(John 15:5, I recommend reading John15:1-17)  If Christ is the vine then that means all we have comes from Him, our strength, our wisdom, everything.  We are so busy making plans and trying to bring glory to God that we have forgotten that it is not about us bringing glory to God, but God bringing glory to Himself through us.  We like to make plans and try to grow God’s church and see people saved, we want a blueprint on how to do this.  When God asks us to do something we want to know what the results are going to be.  If you are feeling a time of spiritual dryness it could be that you are too busy trying to depend upon yourself. 

* I still do all kinds of things for Autumn don’t think it stopped after a couple of years.

Blackaby, Richard (2008-09-01). Experiencing God (pp. 22-23). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.