In Devotional
I have this quote from J.I. Packer's book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God
...the Christian must never for one moment imagine himself to be indispensable to God, or allow himself to behave as if he were. The God who sent him, and is pleased to work with him, can do without him.I have good and relatively important work to accomplish today. I'm sure you do as well. Let's give ourselves to our responsibilities and duties with joy. Let's work as unto the Lord. But let's not believe, even for a nanosecond, that the success and accomplishment of God's agenda depends on us. He's pleased to use us, and that is more than amazing. But he can do without us.
God's plan is going to march forward even if you and I drop dead later today. And isn't that truth good for the soul? We worship and serve the Sovereign One.
~ Josh Harris
I agree, but I also think there is a balance. Our relationship with Him is like a husband/wife relationship: you don't NEED your spouse, but in a way, you do need them. Not in the sense that you couldn't live without them, but in a sense, you can't.
ReplyDeleteOf course, in our relationships we have the tendency to become co-dependants, which is TOTALLY unhealthy! But I think that too often we swing WAY too far to the other side of the spectrum in how we view our relationship with God. He doesn't need us and can exist without us (He did b/f we are made!) ... but in a way, he does need us. I guess you could say He WANTS us. After all, He made us because he wanted someone to love! That's pretty special!
So, all that to say that you are right, we are not indispensable ... but we are pretty special!