Solving Problems Is Not Your Problem!

Probably every coach at one time or another has told his athletes during a game or contest, "Stop trying; you're trying too hard!" The coach knows that during competition it is too late to change anything. At that point, the athlete can only allow the trained skill and natural abilities within him to flow out of him. We often see that the most successful athletes are the ones who relax and flow with their trained ability.
Man's compulsive "trying" and self-effort seem to automatically carry over into his religious and "spiritual" experiences. Our tendency is to be imitators. When we see that our experience falls short of our position in Christ, we purpose to somehow try harder to act as we assume Jesus acted. Initially, our false sense of inadequacy causes us to look for new approaches, new methods, new principles to enable us to act more "Christ-like". Only our awareness that our life IS His life will release us to freely accept ourselves and others in our human limitations as established by God for His ultimate purposes.
For years, my service for God was basically a duty. In fact, its demands sometimes were a tiresome chore. The need was stressed both directly and indirectly to discipline myself and serve Jesus more faithfully. None of these challenges will confuse us as long as we have an adequate awareness that He is our life. But for many, the admonitions result in nothing more than guilt over the past and self-effort for the future. Yes, there is a yoke and a load; but regrets and self-effort are not necessary, "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light" (Matt. 11:30).
There will be an agony of soul on occasion, but this must be distinguished from struggle in our inner being. It is in this sense that Paul says, "for when I am weak [in my soul], then I am strong [in my spirit]" (2 Cor. 12:9). And again in 2 Corinthians 6:10 – "as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." When we transfer problem solving to the spiritual, life on this plane is exciting, not fear; serenity, not struggle.
The admonition to "be still and know that I am God" contains a hidden truth in the words, "know that I am God." Through the years when I heard that injunction, I always visualized a deep, resonant voice from a distant galaxy saying, in effect, "Be quiet; I am God, not you! If you listen carefully, maybe I'll help you." But I have come to see that perhaps He is really saying, "STOP YOUR EFFORTS LONG ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE A UNIQUE EXPRESSION OF THE ONE GOD."
But be clear that the physical or mental exertion is not the real problem – it is the independent self engaging in illusory self-effort. In fact, as we come to see our living union with Jesus Christ, self-giving effort and involvement will be more apparent than ever. This type of problem solving is acceptable and natural, because it is based on His inner power. We can only achieve as much problem solving as the power of Christ within can do for us. We certainly have unique individual human gifts, but these can only be used in the context of the awareness of dependence on the power and leadership of Christ within.

I TRIED to be good and not to be bad;
I TRIED to be happy and not to be sad;
I TRIED to be loving and not to withhold;
I TRIED to be willing His will to unfold.
I TRIED to do this and tried to do that;
I TRIED and I TRIED, til I finally sat;
Spoke my loving Lord,
with a smile so mild,
"Why not stop being such a TRYING child?"
Anonymous

But since human self cannot be improved, what place is there in the Christian's life for personal responsibility? We are told not to try on one hand, but we are also told that when we finally find out who we are in Christ, victorious living and problem solving will be our experience. Do we as beings of choice have personal responsibility or don't we?
The Scriptures seem to teach both inadequacy AND adequacy – incompetence AND competence. First we read, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me" (Rom. 7:18); and then we read, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Phil. 4:13). The answer to this paradox, and to the question of personal responsibility, lies in the "I, yet not I" truth of Galatians 2:20, as well as in the teaching of many other verses, for example, 2 Cor. 3:6-7: "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant…"
NOTICE THAT THE ABOVE VERSES CLEARLY TAKE US FROM OUR INADEQUACY, TO HIS ADEQUACY, TO OUR ADEQUACY.
Notice the distinct parallel to the sequence in Galatians 2:20:
[Because I am inadequate and need help] I have been crucified with Christ.
[But now Christ's adequacy is within me] And it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.
[And the union of Christ and I makes me totally adequate] And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.
From the above sequences we can see that the attitude we have and the language we use radically changes depending on how we see ourselves. As long as we see ourselves as separate from Christ, we are painfully aware of our inadequacy. When we begin to see our inner union with Christ, we focus on His adequacy. But at this level, we still say, "I can't, but He can." Full freedom and willingness to assume personal responsibility finally comes when we are taken by a fixed inner awareness of who we really are – ONE with Him who is Total Adequacy and Total Competence personified.
We must move from saying –
"I can't do it."
to
"I can do it with God's help"
to
"I can't do it, but Christ in me can"
to
"I CAN do it!"
Do you see your Christian life as a series of problems to be solved? Is your Christianity a road of obstacles to be overcome? This is a SEPARATED outlook! And you are NOT a separated being – you are in a DIVINE UNION.

Get the right perspective on problem solving – God's perspective – God's solution: CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY (Colossians 1:27)

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