Nothing.

For those of you who might not know me, from time to time I get a sort of satisfaction for doing stuff on my own. It makes me feel good at times to accomplish something without the help of others. I mean the majority of the time, I try to get help if I need it but if I can, I try to be independent. Now I don’t always mess it up when I do it on my own, but it’s never as good as it could be without the help of others.

God showed me something this morning that I never really realized. As I’ve been traveling through the book of John, in chapter 5, Jesus starts doing his deal. (healing, miracles, teaching, the works…) It seems like being perfect and never messing up, Jesus could just do his thing on his own and not have to rely on anything. When the Jews start trying to tell him he’s wrong, he goes into this spill about how he’s the “Son of God.” In this he pretty much brings the noise in everything he says to them answering every question they have before they can ask it. But look at the statement in verse 30,

“By myself I can do nothing;”

What a smack in the face! Who am I to say, “God, just stay mind your own business. I can do this on my own.” That’s pretty much saying, “You’re too small to handle this.” Here is Jesus, the SON OF GOD, spilling on how he doesn’t do anything by himself or for himself. God is or wants to be your ultimate teammate and without him, we’re just human. We’re nothing. I see people about to pull their hair out and break-down all the time because the weight of everything being on THEM is just too much. Sometimes God allows us to get completely in over our heads just so we realize we can’t do it on our own. So if you’re stressing out about exams, or a family problem, or some other struggle, let God out of his box. Get the comfort you need from him. Rely on him. Trust him. Meet him halfway. Then you’ll be unstoppable.

First Try: Friends or Acquaintances?

Well I don’t even know if anyone’s going to read this or not, but here it goes.

For starters, I have been blessed with some of the greatest friends that a college guy who is pursuing God could ask for. That includes guys and girls. God is constantly giving me relationships with different people who end of touching my life in one way or another and it’s incredible. Well with some of my close knit group of friends, we’re all working to do God’s purpose in our lives. This is really cool because with that, God uses each of us to communicate what he has to say a lot. This in turn brings us ridiculously close. Unlike a lot of my friendships in high school where I had that group of friends I was always with, we were more acquaintances than friends. Yeah it looked like we were friends, but we just hung out. That’s it. We just enjoyed each other’s company. We never did anything for each other, never helped each other out, never gave advice, the list goes on. It’s so obvious to me now looking back, but then I didn’t know why. I think it was because God had nothing to do with my friendships. Although I think it’s possible to have a friendship without God, I think having him in the center of it only makes it stronger. He gives friendships meaning. He makes friendships more than acquaintances.

I’ve been journeying through the bible this year and right now I’m in 2 Samuel. I’ve been reading about David’s story and it’s awesome to say the least. Right now I’m in the middle of learning about David’s friendship with Nathan. It’s so cool because God’s shows what he wants in our friendships.
Nathan was a necessary and helpful gift from God to David. He served as God’s spokesman to David and proved himself a fearless friend and counselor, always willing to speak the truth, even when he knew great pain would result. Even after Nathan confronted David about all his screw ups, God then used him to comfort David and help him understand God’s love and forgiveness, while reminding him the pain and consequences sin brings.

Here are some lessons we can learn from Nathan’s willingness to let God use him:

• We should not be afraid to tell the truth to those we care about
• A trustworthy friend is one of God’s greatest gifts
• God cares enough to find a way to communicate to us when we are in the wrong

What does God want you to say to that person? Be real with them, LOVE them, and help them grow.