John Piper's catchphrase is "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him." Less of the Christian Hedonist, Mark Driscoll has once said, "God is most glorified in us, when we are most dependent on him." I like both, but prefer Driscoll's in this particular case. The context in which Driscoll said this was in a sermon on prayer. Why do we need to pray? Because we are dependent on God and His Spirit, and the way that we express that dependence is through prayer.
This Fall, I will be entering a season where I am going to have A LOT on my plate. I will be retaking the two hardest classes in my grad program. That would be enough to pretty much fill up my calendar due to the amount of studying that I will need to be doing. My grad program has also scheduled me to do a presentation of this year's work in December. This would be enough for me to need to develop time-management skills because if I don't make time for that, I will be stressing about it in November. Also, I and the leader of my Missional Community (Coram Deo's version of small groups) want me to start getting involved in discipling other men, I will be needing to make time to meet with some folks. This alone is a reason for me to be in constant prayer as leaders are taking on the responsibility not only for their own soul, but that of another. It at the very least adds an amount of urgency to the dependence that I already ought to be feeling. Finally, the Guard will be scheduling me for a Physical Fitness test in November. At my current state of fitness and rate of improvement, a failure would be almost certain, resulting in dismissal from the Guard. I honestly feel like crawling in a hole.
This Fall, I will be entering a season where I am going to have A LOT on my plate. I will be retaking the two hardest classes in my grad program. That would be enough to pretty much fill up my calendar due to the amount of studying that I will need to be doing. My grad program has also scheduled me to do a presentation of this year's work in December. This would be enough for me to need to develop time-management skills because if I don't make time for that, I will be stressing about it in November. Also, I and the leader of my Missional Community (Coram Deo's version of small groups) want me to start getting involved in discipling other men, I will be needing to make time to meet with some folks. This alone is a reason for me to be in constant prayer as leaders are taking on the responsibility not only for their own soul, but that of another. It at the very least adds an amount of urgency to the dependence that I already ought to be feeling. Finally, the Guard will be scheduling me for a Physical Fitness test in November. At my current state of fitness and rate of improvement, a failure would be almost certain, resulting in dismissal from the Guard. I honestly feel like crawling in a hole.
So, what do we know about dependence? I know for a fact that I am doomed to fail, because I would much rather go to work, put as little effort into my 4-6 hours of work as possible, then go home and maybe hang out with some friends over coffee. No Holy Spirit required there. Indeed, even if I put in a lot of extra effort and overcame my limitations, the Holy Spirit is not necessarily needed. So how is God glorified? God is glorified when I pray for strength from God, fight to exhaustion, and trust God's goodness for the results no matter what. If all I do is fight, I have no power from the Spirit, and God gets no glory. What makes self-improvement inherently Christian is when we place our faith in the Spirit for the power and the results (Hebrews 12:2). That way, if the Father wills our failure, we acknowledge that we are still being served by God, our faith is refined by fire, and we rejoice in God because he has empowered us to overcome spiritual trials. God receives the glory (2 Cor 12:9). If God wills our victory, we rejoice in God for his mercy and power to overcome earthly trials. God still receives the glory. When we tell God he is good, God is pleased because we have said what is right.
So this is my lesson: Pray to exhaustion. Saturate in God's word so my faith has a foundation. Place my faith in God's goodness and power. Fight to exhaustion. Trust God for the results (Psalm 20:7).
