“If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.” - John 14:15-17

Asking for help is at the top of the list of things I don’t like to do. There’s a mixture of fear about being an inconvenience to others and pride in thinking I should be able to do things on my own. There are many examples, even in my job, when tasks have been taken off my plate and given to someone else, who has done a much better job than I could have. It was wonderful to watch, seeing the gifts within the body being used. Even so, it can dishearten me that despite everyone’s help and all the blood, sweat, and tears I put into things, I can’t do everything I want to do.

It’s a sad reality that I am not good enough at my job to do it well. I am not good enough at being a father to raise my boys, and I am not good enough as a person to write you a devotional. It’s very humbling to realize this, but I think it is the right kind of humility. I should know that I’m not good enough, and I should recognize my limitations. In a group project, I would rather be paired with someone who knows their weaknesses than with someone who overtakes and ultimately underdelivers.

I had a mentor talk to me during my internship when I asked him how he stopped being nervous to preach. As a new preacher, I would get pretty nervous talking to all of these mature Christians. He told me, “When you stop being nervous to preach, then you need to stop preaching.” Of course, you can become more comfortable and less frantic, but nerves are not a bad thing in anything we do in life. We have been taught that we need to help ourselves and rely only on ourselves. If we work hard enough, then everything will work out. We even have safety nets in case we fail, and we have safety nets for our safety nets. We have forgotten that we aren’t good enough to do a good job on our own.

Now, the good news is that we aren’t supposed to be. We have been given the Holy Spirit to help us, to encourage us, and to course-correct us. When we forget that we have an advocate and try to do everything on our own, it’s probably because we have become too overconfident—we have lost our nervousness. We are called to rely on God, to ask Him for direction, and to ask Him for help. We aren’t supposed to do it all ourselves, and if we try, it will surely come crashing down.

Prayer: Holy Spirit, we pray that we would rely on you more, that we would look to you in all things, and not try to muscle through on our own. Lord, I pray we can find strength in our weakness so that we can rely on your strength. Show us how weak we are so we can see your power. In your precious and holy name, Amen.

-Austin Christianson

Shepherding and Worship Pastor