IMO: You Can Fix Yourself - Wednesday
Romans 8:26a
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. (NLT)
A couple years ago, I was sitting on the back porch of my Bible study leader’s house alongside her and the other ladies in our study group. One of them, my dear friend Lauren, had come for the very first time since having her first baby, Jack, several months before. Considering how adorable he was, we were completely okay with letting him be the only boy in our girls-only group that night.
As we started our discussion, Jack was getting wiggly in his carrier, so she placed him on her knee and started bouncing him up and down to entertain him, which worked momentarily. But after trying unsuccessfully to tame his flailing arms, she decided to pull out her secret weapon—the teething mitten. It was a tiny mitten with textured silicone on the finger end, so that when you slip it on a baby’s hand, they can happily and safely gnaw away. Most of us had never seen or heard of this magical baby charming tool before, but Lauren explained that it was one of Jack’s very favorite things and a surefire way to still his wild upper body.
But before Lauren could even manage to get the mitten on Jack’s hand, he was lunging for it, attempting to grab it out of her hand and already stuffing it in his mouth. The boy was serious about his mitten! As she struggled to wrestle it out of his grip, she laughed in lighthearted exasperation, saying, “‘Honey, I’m trying to help you get it on your hand, if you’ll just let me do it…” As we all watched this hilarious and adorable scene unfold, her sister Kate laughed and said, “Babies love making things harder when you’re trying to help them!” Michelle, our Bible study leader, kindly responded, “I wonder if that's how God feels with us sometimes.”
What a truth bomb she casually dropped! We humans (young and old) are very skilled at getting in the way because we want to do things our way. We can often be so overly confident in our own abilities and willpower that we end up making things harder on ourselves. This especially applies to the things we want to change or fix about ourselves—our bad habits and hangups, the sin that so easily entangles us. But God offers us a better, easier way—a way that leads us to real victory and freedom. We just have to stop our flailing, let Him take our hand, and walk in step with Him as He guides us forward.
Wednesday’s Reflection
Where are you getting in your own way? Ask Jesus where He’s been wanting to help you and give you freedom, and make the choice to begin the journey of surrender today.
