Responsibility Vs. Rest - From TBC Ministries

I find myself feeling responsible for getting things done and for the outcome or result. Feeling responsible has been something I’ve battled much of my life and every now and then it comes back to haunt me. After we got moved in to our new office my “To Do” list (in my mind) began to get longer and longer. Everything seemed urgent and necessary to get TBC Ministries up and running and fully funded.

Before long I begin to physically feel the emotional stress as pain in my neck and shoulder and emotionally I felt anxious. Both of these were a big clue that there were things I was carrying that needed to be given to God. Beneath the emotion of stress was lurking a mindset or belief that “if I don’t do it, it won’t get done, and if I don’t get it done, TBC Ministries won’t get off the ground”. Holy Spirit had to remind me that I was not responsible for the success of this ministry, God was. You see, God has not called us to be responsible but faithful.

I use to think being faithful was the same as being responsible. Faithful actually means to be full of faith in God. Jesus told his disciples that the work God had called them to do was to believe in Him (John 6:29). In Galatians, Paul tells us that “the righteous are to live by faith”, not works (Galatians 3:11). But sadly, many people mistakenly think that being responsible is a virtue taught in the Bible. But what God calls us to is “rest” not responsibility. When we take responsibility for something, it means that we need to make it happen and control the outcome. But this is totally opposite of how God created us to live.

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and My load is light. -- Matthew 11:28-30

Weary and heavy laden refers to being exhausted from working from self-effort. The word “rest” literally means to “cease from laboring in your own strength”. It doesn’t mean inactivity. It means living by the life and energy of another. How do we experience this rest? First, we come to Jesus and in honest dialogue cast all our cares upon Him. (1Peter 5:7) In other words, tell him what is stressing you out. Then we take His yoke and learn from Him. The “yoke” was a metaphor which referred to the teachings of a particular Rabbi. Their teachings were full of rules about how to keep the Law. Some teachers had stricter rules than others when it came to living responsibly. Jesus invited worn out believers to learn from Him how to live dependent on God and not self-effort. Jesus’ way of doing life is gentle and easy (kind) and it produces rest in our soul (mind, will and emotions). In affect Jesus was saying, you no longer have to work to earn God’s love and acceptance. And better still, you don’t have to try to be good enough to get God’s blessing. You can only experience His life by faith; trusting in His love and depending on Him to live through you. (John 15:5, 9; Galatians 2:20-21)

Her are some of the things that I’ve been programmed to feel responsible for:
1) Making right choices – this determines the outcome and whether God blesses or not
2) Those that I love and care about – this leads to judging and controlling others in order to make them who I think they should be.
3) Being a good steward – waste not, want not my grandma use to say
4) Glorifying God – by trying to be like Jesus
5) Serving God – living for Him and putting Him first

Now, you would think that feeling responsible for these “good” things would make me more like Jesus. Wrong! They just make me tired and guilty. You see God never intended for humans to be anything but receivers and containers of Him, expressing His life. The only way this happens is by trusting His love and realizing that we can’t produce anything good for God out of our own puny effort. Thinking we are responsible is really believing the LIE that we can be like God by knowing and doing good and avoiding evil.

God has reminded me to daily, receive and rest in His love and in His ability to live through me, as me. He is responsible for the results and He gets all the glory. Whatever TBC Ministries is to be, is God’s responsibility. Mine is to be faithful, full of faith in Christ who is my life.

I am so glad that my ministry team reminds me of this regularly. Joni, used the illustration of us being in a wagon but I was trying to pull the wagon loaded down with all of the responsibilities, instead of allowing God to pull it. She reminded me that we are along for the ride and our job is to ride in the wagon and let God accomplish His will through us. When we are thinking we are responsible for the outcome, we work against Him instead of with Him, carrying the responsibility on our own shoulders instead of His.

How many things do you feel responsible for?
What burdens or concerns are you currently carrying that are stressing you out?
Have you come to the place where you recognize that your best effort is just not good enough?
Do you long to be free from responsibility and simply rest in who God is, allowing Him to live through you?