Do you ever get frustrated with yourself because you sense that you should be so much farther along than you are right now? Do you ever look at your own spiritual growth and just feel like a loser or feel guilty that you’re not at a certain level? Have you ever gotten the feeling that God is massively disappointed in you because there’s probably so much else you could be doing for the Kingdom than you are right now? If you know where I’m coming from, then you know that this feeling isn’t any kind of specific burden or ministry God is calling you to be a part of - this guilty feeling is just a general, vague sense of failure on your part and a sort of disgusted dissatisfaction from God. In recovery programs, they have a name for what you’re feeling. They call it “shoulding yourself.” It’s where people constantly feel terrible about themselves because they’ve set up impossible goals in their mind that they never actually reach. As a result, they’re always saying, “By now, I should be here.” “I just feel terrible because I know I should be doing that thing.” One time Jesus told a story about a farmer who planted some seeds. He said that the seed grew by itself and in ways that the farmer didn’t know would happen. He said the seed grew whether the farmer was awake or asleep. There was a life there that the farmer wasn’t in control of and couldn’t actually stop. Jesus is growing you. You don’t have to be responsible for the speed or trajectory of your own spiritual life. He is your Shepherd. He is going to get you where you need to be right on time.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment