Leave God Alone

In his best-selling book, The Rest of the Gospel, Dan Stone named a chapter, Who Does What? In it Stone dispels a notion many Christians cling to. Many born-from-above believers think grace is part God, part them. Stone says these “baby Christians” (Paul calls them) believe, “Well, God saved me on the cross and forgave me of my sins, now the rest is up to me to live the Christian life.”1

But that’s not what God’s word says.

In Ezekiel God tells the prophet, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My  ordinances.” Ezekiel 36:26-27.

“Who is the only one who can perform this transplant? God is.

Notice all the “I wills” in this passage:

• “I will give you a new heart.”
• “I will put a new spirit within you.”
• “I will remove the heart of stone.”
• “I will put My spirit in you.”

And the last “I will”. My favorite . . .

• “I will cause you to walk in My statutes.”2

Who does all the “will”-ing?  God does. God causes you to walk in His statutes. We can’t walk in them. That statement leaves lots of folks wondering what our role is.

Some of my adult former-Catholic Bible study students, and a few at my church now, tell me, “There’s got to be something we’re supposed to do.” They try to do what they think God wants them to do. They pray, read the Bible, belong to 17 committees, sing in the choir, go on mission trips, attend Bible studies. All that stuff is good, but none of it glorifies God.

In John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. It does not say, “apart from me some things might be acceptable,” or “apart from me you can rack up brownie points with me and I’ll accept you more.” It says, “apart from me you can do nothing (zilch, nyet, zip, nada, zero, nein,).

In other words, if YOU think it’s a good idea to pray and read the Bible and belong to 17 committees, you’ve missed the message. Those are all good things to do, but only as prompted by the Holy Spirit and by allowing Jesus to live His life through you. Those folks don’t fully understand their true identity in Christ. If they did, they would realize it’s the Holy Spirit living in us who tells us how and what to pray. It is Jesus living in and through them who calls us to live for Him.

Our own works don’t contribute anything.  We’re saved by grace. Grace alone. And we are sanctified by grace alone. We can’t do anything to improve our relationship with God or help Him sanctify us.

But, we’re out there trying. Trying to do the right things, trying to love our brothers, trying to be a good Christian (there are no “good” Christians), trying to keep from sounding critical, trying to stop smoking, trying to solve little problems without getting God involved.

Trying, trying, trying.

You may succeed at times and do some “good” things, but your reward and recognition are your own. God doesn’t get any glory from your efforts, only the efforts of Christ as you allow Him to live His life in you.

So, leave God alone to do the work only He can do.  We were created “to do good works,” but they are works, “which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10.

Don’t let this inflate your ego, but God does not need your help to run the world.  And if you leave him alone to live His life in you, you’ll gradually notice life-changing transformation.

I heard a poem once that captures all this for us. It goes like this:

As children bring their broken dreams with tears to us to mend
I brought my broken dreams to God because He is my friend.
But then instead of leaving Him in peace to work alone.
I hung around and tried to help with ways that were my own.
At last I snatched them back and cried, “How could you be so slow?”
“My child,” He said. “What could I do? You never would let go. Anonymous.

1. The Rest of the Gospel, by Dan Stone and Greg Smith  c. 2000 by One Press; Richardson, Texas; pg. 152-3.

2. Ibid, pg. 152.