All too often in life I think that if I find the right “formula” everything will work out perfectly. If I read my Bible, have a quiet time and pray regularly, then God will smile and say, “Good job, now your life will work out fine.” If I’m generally polite, ethical and work hard then God will say, “What a nice girl, here’s that publishing contract you wanted.” If I take my vitamins, wash my hands and get plenty of sleep, then God will say, “That’s the ticket, no cold or flu for you.”
Guess what? It doesn’t work that way. Which leads to disappointment when you have this wacky idea that it should work that way. Which I did until I read this passage in Romans, Chapter 11:
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Did you catch verse 35? What could I possibly do for God that He would owe me? Nothing. I’ve been going about this all wrong. I need to do things that please God because they please God. Not because I’m looking for a benefit. If God is calling me to write, I should do it because He asked me to. And I might even be called on to keep writing in the face of rejection, criticism and scorn.
Why do I write? Once I would have said because I love it, because it satisfies a creative part of me, because I have stories to tell, because I love words, because other people appreciate my writing . . . Why do I write? Because it makes God happy.
Isn’t it amazing when we come to the realization of a truth through reading of the scriptures? Might have heard it said by others in many ways, but hearing it and understanding it through our reading of the scriptures is a gift from God’s spirit within us. 🙂