Stop trying. Start submitting.

Mind blown.

I'm a Christian. I'm not perfect, but I'm a Christian.

I try really hard. I slip, I fall, but I get back up and try again. 

I feel that a lot of things I do please God. I feel that my heart's desires (mostly) please God.

I feel that, for the most part, my priorities are in place.

Even when it's hard, I still give an honest effort to do the right thing.

I seek out opportunities to serve Him.

But all this trying is not what God wants. 

God doesn't want my best effort to please Him and to accomplish things.

He wants my submission.

To explain.. My best effort to please and serve Him falls grossly short of what is required to please Him.

The one thing He wants from me is submission. A willingness to let go of my self-centeredness and to let Him have complete control.

Switch gears for a moment.

When you think about the Bible, what is it? Like physically, what is it?

A book.

A book of stories. About who? What?

Many would say about people. People who walked with God.

But that's completely wrong. The Bible is a book about stories. But our view is wrong. The Bible is a book of stories about God accomplishing His plan through men. It's not about men at all, but about God and God alone.

See the problem is our view. Our focus. We are only human, therefore we view everything in a self-centered, human-centric way. Life is not about you or me. Life is not about what we do or say. Life is about God. Life was created by God. Everything is God centered. We have just developed a self-centered view.

So back to what I was saying about my effort. I try really hard. I put in a real effort to please God and to do things for Him to accomplish the "goal." But I realized that I'm completely missing the point. 

He's already got a plan. I'm just a vessel that can be used by Him to accomplish it if I'll stop trying so hard and just let go and let God use me.

God never asked me to sit down and figure out how to reach the world. He doesn't require that of anyone. What an impossible task to ask of imperfect human beings.  He already has a plan. All I need to do is see where He's working, and get onboard. His plan will be accomplished in the way He wants it to. Not the way I decide it should be.

And ultimately, this is best. Because he is omniscient. Omnipresent. Omnipotent. He sees and knows everything. He is everywhere. So his view on life is much better than mine. I'm pretty sure I can count on Him to see all the pieces and to put them together in the most fitting way to accomplish what He needs to be done.

Let me give you a little visual to put things into perspective...

Take Noah for example. He was serving God. He was preaching, trying to reach people. He had a plan. Tell people about God. But God's plan was to flood the earth and start over.

In the grand scheme of things, if Noah had resisted God and thought that he had things under control, how much good would that have done when the flood hit? How valuable would Noah's efforts have been? Pretty useless.

Any plan, any idea, anything Noah could have possibly dreamed up to do for God would have been pointless given the coming destruction of the flood. So it's a darn good thing he let go and let God direct him. His submission is what God used to save mankind and to start over using Noah's family.

So think about what that means for your own life. Whatever plan you or I have does not compare to the plan God has. If we could stop trying so hard and start submitting, maybe we'd accomplish what He has for us to accomplish on this earth.

Just a thought.