Do You Really Need to Get Yourself Out of God's Way

God wants to work both in us and through us to build His kingdom. Too often, though, that doesn't happen. As Shakespeare said, "The fault is not in our stars, but in us." We get in God's way through sin, not spending enough time with him, and not serving others. If we remove or at least diminish these roadblocks, we then allow God to do more of His work, in us and through us.

Many of us go easy on ourselves when it comes to sin. Saved by the grace of Jesus, forgiven by the love of God, renewed by the Holy Spirit, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that we still sin. That sin gets in God's way by blocking our spiritual system, just as plaque blocks the flow of blood in our veins and arteries.

So while we may have conquered lust and gluttony, avoided being slothful, and have our greed under control, there's a good chance we still experience anger (incorrectly felt or expressed) and envy. If not, we may well suffer from pride. All of us have sinned and will continue to sin. It's part of our fallen nature.

Knowing that, we must remain aware and watchful. When we do sin, we must go to God, truly and sincerely repent, and ask, again, for His forgiveness. We can't hope to avoid the sin that clogs the flow of God within us, but we can and must ask him to clear it out once it's occurred.

The best way to ensure the flow of God within us is to spend more time with Him. Our prayer life must be more than a few words spoken at meals and at bedtime. And it must be more than us talking to God. We need times of silence so we can hear what He has to say to us.

We also spend time with God when we immerse ourselves in the Bible. We can't just study and read the Bible for head knowledge. We must also spend time contemplating and meditating upon what we've read in order to move the information from our head to our heart. Only then will it be truly meaningful and useful for God's purposes.

When God is flowing in us and through us, we forget about ourselves and focus on others, as Jesus commanded. And here's an interesting thing about the way God designed our brains to work: we may think we need to love others before we can hope to serve them; the fact is, if we just begin to serve others, we'll find that out love for them will grow. We move ourselves out of the picture, becoming a conduit between God and those being served. We have the privilege of a close-up view. And we serve others if "all" we do is pray for them.

So the steps are simple and straightforward. Be aware of our sin, repent, and ask for God's forgiveness. Spend more time with God, both in prayer and in the Bible. And serve others, in ways both large and small. These are surefire ways for us to get out of God's way as He works in us and through us.