Honorbound Devotions
Self-Help with His Help
By Dave Gable
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You are all sons of the light and sons of the day. We do not belong
to the
night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who
are
asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled. For those who sleep,
sleep
at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since
we belong
to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love
as a
breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. (1 Thessalonians
5:5-8,
NIV)
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One of the simplest summations of the divine-human partnership is
the battle
cry from the Old Testament: "...the sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"
The battle is the Lord's, but Gideon was there. God worked it that
way then,
and works it that way now. He counts on us to be there, too. Our
life and
spiritual progress can't happen without God, but it also requires
our best
shot. That's what lies behind Paul's call for self-control.
If self-control is all we have working for us, we'll be a defeated
and
gloomy bunch, much like the Stoics of Paul's time. A walk with God
is not a
self-help program. The Good News is that Christ steps in and does
for us
what we cannot do for ourselves. Our part, minor, but essential,
Paul here
calls "self-control." God will never be impressed by our cry: "The
Devil
made me do it," or "I couldn't help myself." We are players, not
puppets.
What we can do, we are to do. We bring our best effort to godly
enterprise.
We give it our Sunday punch. We gain all the understanding we can,
and then
intentionally execute according to the gifts and office He allows
us.
ACTION STEP: Pause and reflect on what God has put under your control,
called you to do, and given you to work with today. Now do it!
hbdevotion@news.ag.org