What If God Enjoys Watching You Grow? (#535)

Religious performance teaches us that God wants us to be perfect today, and every failure or mistake is proof that we don't love him enough or are not committed enough. What if God had something else in mind, actually walking with us while he teaches us to live increasingly free from our broken ways of thinking and finding greater freedom in him? Wayne is enjoying watching his new puppy and Wayne and wonders if God doesn't enjoy that same process with us. In that environment of growing trust we are less prone to try to claim promises even Scripture to make God do what we want and instead find great joy in discovering what he has in mind and cooperating with him there.

Podcast Notes:
Information on the GJ Trip to Israel
Wayne's Travel Schedule
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9 Comments

  1. I used to be one who beat myself up because I wasn’t perfect or spiritually mature enough! I mean I had been a Christian since I was a child and there was so much I didn’t know, so many doubts, so many struggles! I certainly wasn’t perfect as my Father in heaven! I remember praying, “God, I am only on this earth for a short time so You better hurry up and make me what you want me to be so I can be about your business!” God spoke to me and said, “Amy, I am not in a hurry for you to grow up! I enjoy you at every stage just as you enjoy your children and aren’t in a hurry for them to grow up!” As He often does, He hammered this truth home. We were building a house and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the whole process. I loved going to the worksite and taking photos of the progress. I knew it would eventually be completed and the fact was, there was nothing I could do to make it go any faster! I had to trust solely in my builder and his crew! The same is true for my spiritual growth! I can’t speed it up, I might as well relax and enjoy it and trust my Builder to make me what He wants, when He wants!

  2. Pressure in this moment….(facing moving, difficult dynamics…) I will want to come back and listen to these thoughts on walking in more grace filled ways. This one comment has given me a little encouragement….blessings to you Amy.

    • So thankful God has given you a little “manna” today! Blessings to you too, Sue!

  3. Recently I have been struggling with an illness, a disorder, I was diagnosed with a number of years ago, which has been in remission. I find myself bouncing from thing to thing to thing with no end in sight, when I decided to sit down and do some reading on my condition. One thing I read, which was helpful, was to simply sit down and relax, whether just to rest or watch a tv program or something. It has helped, I’m still concerned about several issues in my life which have very uncertain outcomes at this point, but I realize if I simply continue to relax in the Father, I will be able to handle these situations better.

    I heard the very same thing from a Bible teacher that was mentioned in the podcast, that God either causes or allows events to happen, for one’s own good, and for God’s glory. I’m of the belief that God allows us self-will, even if we use that self-will in destructive ways. Unbelievers often ask where was God when Jesus was hanging on the Cross. Arguably the best answer is, God was weeping for Him.

    There was a book out years ago, written by a Rabbi named Harold Kushner, called ‘When Bad Things Happen to Good People’, where he concludes that God is not all-powerful. He couldn’t reconcile the fact that God would consciously allow bad things to happen in the world. I give God all power in my life, but it doesn’t mean that He has power over everyone’s lives as well. Many choose to go their own way.

  4. Our self-will used in destructive ways is what sin is. (For all we like sheep have gone astray, each one to our own way…) IF God were a micro-manager who decided every possible outcome that we chose, really how hard would that be for the God who created all we see and don’t see? But the sovereignty that is all powerful IN SPITE of what billions of people do against His will, in which He is still able to bring about His desired outcomes for each and every one of us – now that is a large God! Our God allows us our self-will WITHIN His sovereignty, not against it, and still maintains His God-hood. What else would the only true, living and wise God do? Oh, praise to Your Holy Name Yahweh-Elohim (LORD God)!!

  5. Wayne, at the beginning of the podcast you say one of the best ones you ever did was “learning to live inside our freedom”. Doing a search for this podcast comes up with zero matches. Give us a hand finding it, please.

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