20/80

Maybe its our you-can-do-it-yourself culture or perhaps just my quasi-perfectionist-sometimes-TypeA personality but I frequently catch myself trying to "improve" myself by my own efforts. I catch myself trying to build up my faith or make myself holier, etc. Its usually a frustrating process as, of course, my own efforts fail to produce the results and "improvement" I was hoping for. That is why, in the last few days, I have drawn so much encouragement from the following passages as the Lord has gently reminded me of something. It is not my job to come 90 or 80% of the way to let Him do the remaining 10 or 20%. It is not our job to "get ourselves right" and then come to the Lord for the "leftovers". He has gently reminded me of what I think is perhaps the exact opposite. It is my job to come 20% of the way with the little I have and in the ugly state I am in - to come to the Lord for the rest of the 80% or the "entree".

Paul reminds us in Colossians 1:21-23 of who we were before Christ, who we are now in Him, and why our do-it-ourselves attitudes just don't work in God's kingdom. "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven."

Then in Colossians 1:29, "For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me."

Looking at those passages...lets look at our jobs, our 20%...and then we'll look at what the Lord promises.
Our role: continue in the faith, remain stable and steadfast, don't shift from the hope of the gospel, toil for Christ and fellow believers
Christ's role: reconcile us, present us holy and blameless and above reproach, giving us his energy, powerfully working his energy in us

It isn't our job to make ourselves holy and blameless, to "get ourselves right" and then come to the Lord. No, it is just our job, our 20%, to push on toward Christ and TRUST in Him to make us more like Him.

That doesn't mean our 20% is easy or comes natural. But sometimes when you realize your job isn't as big as you thought it was, it seems more attainable.

So to myself and anyone else out there reading this, PUSH ON. Keep on striving. Just continue. Continue in truth, in prayer, in fellowship. Continue in love and grace. Remain stable and firm and steadfast - whatever that may take. Let go of perfection on your terms and let the ultimate perfecter perfect you himself.