Be confident in God’s ability more than your own

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

When Jesus commands us to do something, he knows we can’t do it unless we’re empowered by him. So, through the Holy Spirit, he joins his life with ours; thus, “Christ lives in me.”

This new life takes us where we could never go ourselves. God transforms us by the life of Christ within us, and so we “live and move and have our being” energized by being in Christ (Acts 17:28 NIV).

No matter how hard we try, some days sheer willpower isn’t enough to move us closer to where God wants us to be. And so we try harder, and things just get worse.

This is God driving us away from “try harder” Christianity. It is God teaching us, “Not I, but Christ.”

We begin to see it is no longer “just I” doing the work. We learn to say in faith: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV).

Our confidence is not in our ability but in God’s ability. Discuss ways that God works through us internally and externally to build our faith in him.

How would things change in your life if you traded self-confidence for God confidence?

Jon Walker’s new book, Breakfast with Bonhoeffer: “Gut-wrenching honesty, real world faith, not just another ‘feel good’ Christian story”.

This devotional © Copyright 2012 Jon Walker. All rights reserved. Used by permission.