For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! (Romans 5:17)

“Reinventing myself is exhausting.”

My friend’s Facebook made me think. Why would someone want to reinvent herself? I understand the desire for change in one’s life, but I was saddened my friend felt she had to expend the energy, make the decisions, and determine the direction of her development. God does a better job than we can even imagine. He has the knowledge, strength, and insight to guide and provide in exactly the best direction. In our own efforts, we’ll spin in circles. Instead of reinventing ourselves, we simply have to respond. We receive God’s grace and proceed in obedience.

We must accept God’s grace, and it comes at a price. Grace requires we give up our little gods of self-sufficiency, which includes the assumption we can do or make something better on our own. We can believe in God’s grace while living out of our self-sufficiency, but we can’t fully grasp both. We can choose not to access his full grace. It’s as if we cling to trying life partially on our own, and as we see ourselves falling short, we might think God has fallen short.

As we experience disappointments, we might consequently make assumptions about what God could have or didn’t do. The baggage we carry affects how we approach and handle future experiences. When our motivation to accept God’s grace and respond to him in obedience is overshadowed by our motivation to do things our own ways, we grow away from God. Let’s choose growth toward him instead.

As you make decisions today, determine whether you’re more motivated by your own rationale and priorities or God’s guidance? Ask God to help you set aside your god of self-sufficiency for the God of all-sufficiency.