Many times in circles of Christ-followers, we obsess on what we are doing “for” God and how much we are producing, trying desperately to make Him happy with us. I find this stems from an incorrect concept of God, one who is angry and sets unrealistic standards for us, waiting to punish us when we don’t measure up. This is not the God I see in Scripture, as He pursues people constantly to lead them to repentance. Repentance is a change of mind, a turning that leads behavior. God is always walking with you, but repentance means you recognize it and ask Him for His perspective. Sin is separation from God. As Mike Wells used to say, “You fall out with God before you ever fall into sin.” But we obsess on sin as the problem, rather than a break in relationship with Jesus being the problem.

If we are constantly trying to measure up to whatever standards and expectations we believe are important, we basically become just like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, whom He warned against often. They ended up demonstrating their hatred for God when they crucified Him. They would not be led to a change of mind, but were determined to follow the rules they had set for themselves and to judge everyone around them who was not measuring up in their view. It became a competition among the religious leaders to see who could be more religious. Interesting, isn’t it, when we sometimes do the same thing in the body of Christ?

Over and over again, Jesus told people that He had come as the Savior because we all needed one. That means that we couldn’t save ourselves. We couldn’t come to relationship with the Trinity because we kept trying to achieve and appease instead of receive. We often continue to make it about behavior rather than heart.

I think we also try to control God, thinking we have a guarantee of a peaceful, happy life if we just do whatever it is He wants. One thing I see repeatedly is the anxiety that develops when we are trying to control and recognize we can’t. I think we either move further into anxiety and control, as well as isolation, or we move into trust in God who holds each moment of our lives. If He is walking with us the whole way and never leaves us, the reason for suffering or trouble isn’t nearly as important as the way He provides to get through it. I think we question hard times because we believe we are supposed to be comfortable all the time. But I don’t that’s actually what this life is about. In fact, I’ve heard a lot of people who don’t know Jesus talk about sitting in discomfort instead of running from it, as this is the way to growth and change.

We think we want comfort, but God wants our growth more. This growth doesn’t come from gritting your teeth and performing, but rather how much you receive from Him. As you move into a posture of receiving rather than performing, you experience rest and deep peace because it isn’t up to you to figure it out. I recently heard a preacher say that the sign of Christian maturity wasn’t how much you produce but how much you receive. As we receive all He has for us, the outflow of that Life is love for enemies, doing the impossible, forgiving the unforgivable, peace in suffering, supernatural strength, healing for our deepest hurts and freedom from fear. None of this is possible without Jesus providing what we need for this, and we really make a mistake when we try to generate it on our own.

Commandments become promises when we see it in this light—everything God wants for our lives He will bring it about if we will simply receive all He has for us. We need to listen to His voice in order to know what we are receiving, and sometimes it’s not at all what you’d expect. The more I study the Bible, the more I realize that when it’s not something I can control or expect or figure out, it’s probably God talking because that seems to be the way He does a lot of things.

I want to start every day with a posture of receiving, asking for God’s perspective, God’s direction, God’s voice in my mind reminding me of who I am and what He’s going to do in and through me today. It’s not passivity or sitting around doing nothing. It’s life lived abiding in Christ, allowing Him to give you all He has for you for every moment so that you can do more than you every asked or dreamed.

Never doubt God’s mighty power to work in you and accomplish all this. He will achieve infinitely more than your greatest request, your most unbelievable dream, and exceed your wildest imagination!  He will outdo them all, for his miraculous power constantly energizes you. Ephesians 3:20