Do Dependence

If you've ever been to church, chances are you've been told of how important it is to read your Bible.  And of course it doesn't stop there.  Prayer also comes highly recommended.  As well as coming back for church the next week.  If you consider yourself to be a Christian- or if you've been raised to think like one- you admit these things seem "right."  You know you should do them.  But sometimes it's so hard, and your Bible winds up sitting in the same place for days on end, your knees never really touch the floor, and you find yourself in greatest need of sleep on Sunday morning around the time you know you should probably get out of bed and head to that building with a steeple on it.  What's up with this!?  Does it sound familiar?  Because I know this has been all too true of me time and again throughout my Christian life.

Read your Bible.

Pray.

Go to church.

Why?  Not why should we do this stuff, but why is it so hard?  The reasons are probably many.  Business.  Wrong priorities.  Overwhelmed with yet another to-do list.  Satanic opposition.  Endless distraction.  Whatever reason we could conjure up for struggling with prayer, Bible reading, church attendance and the like, I've recently come to discover just one answer to my struggle:  dependence.

When I view these simple acts of Christian devotion as things I should do, they rarely happen, and when they do I usually just feel a bit religious and happy to relieve my ritual-sensative conscience for the day.  And beyond that, not much else.

Recently I've begun to learn, however, that when I come to the realization of a need for God in my life, and my complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy apart from Him, my entire perspective is turned upside-down.  The more clearly I see my need for God, the more quickly and easily I grab my Bible and pour over it's pages!  When I recognize my desperate spiritual condition apart from the grace of God in my life, I cannot help but fall on my knees in humility and brokenness!  And when I understand that my relationship with Christ is completely central to having a life that is honoring to God and personally fulfilling, church suddenly becomes a new favorite hang-out place!

Today, rather than thinking of a list of stuff that God and your pastor say you should do, think of that list as a few things that you get to do- things that you must do in order to have the life God intends for you to have.   That's what I'm doing.  Let's recognize how much we need the presence of the Lord in our lives and I guarantee you we won't be able to go without that little list this week.  Don't fret over your spiritual chores, just do dependence.