What Is God’s Job in My Life?
Have you ever considered God’s job in your life? What should you expect from Him? God invites you into a personal relationship! He offers to be your Savior, Sustainer, and Benefactor. What more could you ask for?
God promises incomprehensible treasure.
Do you remember the childhood adventures that invited us to search for hidden treasures? With a coded map in hand, we attempted to calculate the incomprehensible wealth that could be obtained if we deciphered all the cryptic symbols. Movies depicting desolate caverns filled with overflowing coffers fueled our lust for all that is tantalizing.
Somewhere along our journey, we came to believe that our dreams could be satisfied by God; He would give us everything we wanted if we could just decipher all the cryptic symbols. The good news is that Christ has provided an incomprehensible treasure, but it is a treasure of His design, not necessarily a fulfillment of our wishes.
Genesis recounts the story of how the treasure was lost. Beginning in the Garden of Eden, humanity purposed to reclaim the lost treasure but continuously sought fleeting satisfaction rather than the ultimate treasure. Even in the garden, God provided the clues that would lead to His abundant storehouse, and the way was revealed by the cross.
The work of the cross enables us to inherit the riches of Christ if we accept His work on our behalf.
His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness.
2 Peter 1:3 NASB
His coffers overflow with abundant provision sufficient for every need as we are being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. A divine treasure spills over with inexhaustible wealth awaiting acquisition, and as God’s children, we are heirs to His vast treasure. A closer look at 2 Peter 1 gives a definitive outline of the work that has already been done and the treasures that await those who diligently seek Him. God is our Savior, sustainer, and benefactor.
God is my Savior.
Because God loves us, He calls us to Himself and desires an intimate and personal relationship with us. The righteous work of Jesus Christ provides the opportunity for us to choose salvation that results in communion with God. Only Jesus, God’s Son, can fulfill the job of Savior in my life.
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:1 NKJV
Jesus Christ pleased the Father by being the acceptable sacrifice in our place. Our sin natures separated us from a relationship with God, but Jesus did everything necessary to make the way for us to come to God. It is His work that makes us acceptable to God, not any particular formula of human design.
It’s God’s job to save my life.
Erroneously we believe it is our responsibility to appease God and become acceptable to Him. Perhaps we assume that by doing the right thing, saying the right thing, or doing “it” good enough, we can gain entrance into a relationship with God. Some even suppose they are entitled to access to God because of their upright lifestyle.
The two polar extremes that block dependency on Jesus are “I am not good enough” and “I am good enough.” The reality is that it is not about us—whether we are or are not good enough. It is about Christ and what He has accomplished. When we come to salvation, we are choosing to depend and rely on God in all areas of our lives.
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
2 Corinthians 5:15 NLT
It pleased the Father to provide for our best interest through His redemptive work.
All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And through your faith, God is protecting you by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
1 Peter 1:3–5 NLT
God offers limitless grace.
God’s undeserved, limitless grace is available to address the core needs of the soul. Christ offers
Redemption from the
- Domain of Satan
- Domination of sin
- Damnation to hell
- Dictates of this present evil world
Resolution of
Restoration to
Reconciliation
- To God
- Through Jesus
- By the Holy Spirit
God looks into our lives and considers the trials and difficulties He foresees will come to us. He has already designed a master plan of how He will navigate us through the maze of trouble to ensure our arrival at His preordained destination.
For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Romans 8:29 NLT
God deals with us right where we are, using the circumstances and problems we face to move us toward the likeness of Christ. God’s dynamic transforming process is set in motion through His grace as we act on His truth.
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Colossians 1:11–14 NLT
God offers a loving family.
God calls His children and chooses all those who are willing to choose Him.
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.
Ephesians 1:4–8 NLT
As our Savior, He purposed to free us from the bondage of sin that keeps us stuck in the mire. His gracious action was prompted by His eternal desire to be in an intimate relationship with His creation. The resulting freedom and union enable His child to live devoted to God and totally committed to doing good deeds.
For the grace of God has been revealed, bringing salvation to all people. And we are instructed to turn from godless living and sinful pleasures. We should live in this evil world with wisdom, righteousness, and devotion to God, while we look forward with hope to that wonderful day when the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
Titus 2:11–14 NLT
God is my Sustainer.
The extent of God’s blessings does not stop with the discovery of the divine treasure of salvation, for within the celestial cavern glows the continuing grace of God through Jesus Christ, our Sustainer.
Grace is the power to live supplied by God.
Desperate Dependency
Jesus literally gives us the capacity to live beyond ourselves. Specifically, He enables us to live beyond our fleshly abilities to be empowered by His divine nature. When our feeble flesh cries, “I can’t do this,” we can reach for His supply of grace and recognize that we do not have to face any issue in life with our meager capabilities.
“Then call on me when you are in trouble,
Psalm 50:15 NLT
and I will rescue you,
and you will give me glory.”
Rest in His strength.
As a three-and-a-half-year-old boy, I (Kirk) remember carrying water during a drought in a galvanized bucket from a spring across the dirt road where we lived in rural North Carolina. I recall using both arms and bumping the heavy pail full of water from side to side between my legs. While water sloshed out onto the ground behind me, Mama said, “Honey, there won’t be any water left by the time we get home.” Still, I was determined to carry the water. I wanted to be strong like Daddy. My hands hurt as the old metal handle dug into my palms. The bucket dragged the ground, providing temporary relief as my hands swelled with pain. But we still had not crossed the road.
Then came the unexpected. From somewhere behind me, with a singular motion, my dad swooped his little boy onto his shoulders while he shifted my load into his large, strong hands. With both my trembling hands, I desperately grasped his jet-black hair. I was terrified, I was thrilled, and I was on top of the world. Though only three-and-a-half years old, I now possessed all the power of my father. I was living beyond myself, beyond my capabilities. I was now walking in the awesome power of my dad. No longer did I need to struggle to accomplish my task; I merely had to rest in his strength.
It’s God’s job to sustain my life through His grace.
The Scriptures teach that God is actively working to bring His children to completeness and fulfillment. The Christian’s life is abuzz with divine activity. Jesus is constantly involved with His disciples to bring each one to maturity.
until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 4:13 NASB
Grace is the all-encompassing biblical concept used to depict the process that starts with salvation and ends with perfecting us into the image of Jesus Christ.
The prospect of God’s unmerited favor giving undeserving people the power to live depends exclusively upon the person of Christ. Jesus provided the way to access God so we can have the power to live the life He lived in the fashion in which He lived it—being dependent upon God. Grace is the catalyst, providing what is needed and furnishing what is lacking to embed the image of Jesus Christ, God’s most precious treasure, on our souls.
God knows exactly what I need.
God anticipates every challenge while enabling us to have the power to live Jesus’ life on earth through His grace. All His spiritual, psychological, and interpersonal power that is beyond our comprehension and aptitude is made user-friendly through God’s truth in our lives. We are not required to have a thorough understanding of the inner workings of God’s abilities, nor a profound knowledge of the intricacies of our problems. It is sufficient to know, “I am hurting”; “I am afraid”; or “I am sinking”; and that God is able to rescue me from this present evil world as I desperately depend upon Jesus Christ. A desperate dependency on Jesus reveals God’s abundant power.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted;
Psalm 34:18 NLT
he rescues those whose spirits are crushed.
Jesus addresses the needs of our heart through enlightenment, drawing directly from His principles, precepts, and promises concerning Himself, thereby aiding His children to experience Him as relevant to the needs of their human condition. God works without ceasing to provide us with His grace.
The prize of peace is the logical outcome of God’s grace.
May grace and peace be lavished on you as you grow in the rich knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord!
2 Peter 1:2 NET
Grace from heaven moves the heart to calm tranquility. When our core needs are addressed, the issue of well-being is resolved, the crisis of the day is settled, the intricacies of interpersonal relations are solved, and the prospect of pleasing God is complete, God’s peace pervades. But when will that ever happen? When we access God’s grace. The provision has already been made for us to experience His grace, but we must receive it. God has already done His job.
God has done His part.
To access God’s affluence, the entrance must be gained through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. God has provided the knowledge, but it falls to us to believe His truth. The abundance of grace and peace multiplies as we connect to the truth about Jesus and then apply this knowledge to our circumstances and situations. The application and experience of this life-transforming knowledge will not be forced upon us. God has done His part.
Yet someone may venture to comment, “I know all about the Bible, and it has not changed any aspect of my life.” This testimony could be recited all too often by countless individuals who live a marginalized existence. There is a tremendous difference between knowing the truth and appropriating the truth. When we personally apply God’s truth to our souls, we are enabled to live beyond the effects of our sinful selves. However, when knowledge takes residence only in our minds and does not become a motivator for action, God’s treasure remains undiscovered.
And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments. If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him. Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.
1 John 2:3–6 NLT
I must allow God to do His job in my life.
There are two access points from which we may qualify to enter into God’s grace. The first is faith, believing what God has said. The second is obedience, doing what God has said. Navigating these pathways will enable the Christian to negotiate all of life’s challenges and experience Jesus Christ as relevant to every area of life.
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
Colossians 1:9–10 NLT
A deceptive treasure map leads us to search for a grace that only excuses our wrongdoing rather than enables our right doing. We would rather God overlook our sinfulness than empower us to live beyond it. While indulging ourselves with the gratifications of the flesh, we claim to be partakers of God’s grace. As a result, we miss the true nature of grace as being the power of God unto salvation that delivers us, not just theoretically but authentically, from the dictates of our sinful passions. Content with a theology of tolerance, we prefer not to be transformed. We have lost sight of the fact that God expects us to change by partaking of His grace. I thwart God’s job in my life.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.
2 Peter 1:3 NLT
God empowers me to live beyond myself.
As surrendered followers of Jesus Christ who live in desperate dependency upon Him, we are empowered by God to live beyond ourselves. The power to live Christ’s life on earth cannot be manufactured by our own efforts. We are not even capable of conceptualizing the process. Human beings on a quest for their own best interest usually resort toward self-indulgence or self-promotion, thinking self-empowerment is somehow the solution to their powerless condition.
Seeking within our own strength to create our own grace always leads to some form of illicit dependency, addiction; some inappropriate behavior, deviance; some undesirable state of being, mental illness; or some irreversible consequence, death. Thus grace must come to us, not through us. In God’s economy, we are the recipients of His grace, not the progenitors of it.
God is my Benefactor.
As our benefactor, God provides from the resources of His kindness, love, and mercy, through the abundance of His grace, to complete our souls. He does not give us what we deserve but from an overflow of His generosity. It is ironic that when we think of God’s benefits, we most often visualize our version of what the blessing should look like. We often miss experiencing God as our benefactor because we want Him to bequeath to us people, positions, and possessions, believing that through these, we would be fulfilled.
When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.
Titus 3:4–7 NLT
The riches of Christ encompass the legacy God bestows on His children.
But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.
Galatians 4:4-7 NLT
God’s job offers amazing benefits in my life.
The benefits of God include His purchasing our freedom through His Son, Jesus Christ. This freedom affords the privilege of entering His home as His child, where we can sit at His table dressed in our royal robes washed in the blood of Jesus. The price was not paid to merely release us to seek our independence or to indulge ourselves with the pleasures of this world. We are now free to belong to Him.
However, it is sad when the selfish mind misses this whole truth and insists freedom gives liberty to sin and do what we want to do when we want to do it. For these deluded individuals, eternal life in heaven is more important than being children of God. The idea of a relationship with Jesus holds no value to such people. It is yet another form of indulgence waiting for them in the next life of everlasting bliss. But for the authentic Christian, a relationship with Jesus is vital. Possessing the privilege of the position as His child, our persistent pursuit is His divine nature and Christlikeness.
And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.
2 Peter 1:4 NLT
God connects me to His divine nature.
The great and precious promises of God connect us to His divine nature. As a result of this connection, we possess the moral capacity to be holy and the emotional ability to be healthy. His promises give us the direction to arrive at His ultimate destination of Christlikeness.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
Romans 8:12–18 NLT
God’s job offers solutions to my life problems.
Although we are not fully aware of all aspects of our inheritance, God’s promises provide a taste of the expectations He fulfills so we may live with earnest anticipation as we experience His life living through us. His promises are not merely for the hereafter but encompass life here and now. God provides the solution for life change.
By acting on His promises, we have His resolution to all problems and deliverance from the social ills that plague us. We do not comprehend that the solutions to all of life’s problems stem from believing and acting on the promises of God. God is literally saying to you, “I can solve your emotional problems, your parenting problems, your relationship problems, your mental problems, all of your problems if you will trust My truths.” If our Christianity does not make a difference with our problems, then we have a problem with our Christianity.
Will you let God do His job in your life?
God is extending deliverance to us as we rely on Him. But, the question is, will you, in your desperation, depend on God? Will you respond to the invitation God gives to you? Will you continue in your self-effort? Or will you believe the same lies? Will you commit the same sins? Will you experience the same problems over and over again? Or will you realize that you are a child of the King with an inheritance already in your possession?
To summarize, God’s job in my life is to bring me into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whatever holy means are appropriate. God uses love to promote purity (1 John 3:1–3), goodness to promote repentance (Rom. 2:4), patience to promote redemption (Luke 8:4–15), discipline to produce maturity (Heb. 12:5–10), and pain to promote growth (Heb. 12:11). God uses trials to bring me to completion (James 1:2–4), tribulation to produce hope (Rom. 5:3–5), the trauma of truth to produce brokenness (2 Cor. 7:8–11), and thorns in the flesh to produce dependency (2 Cor. 12:7–10).
All His blessings are for achieving the one purpose of transforming me into the image of Jesus Christ. This endeavor is His most important task. All facets of God’s economy function to produce Jesus’ image within my soul, bringing glory to Him as I depend on Him. God produces His essence within me as I yield to Him.
God’s job is to make Christ relevant to my life.
God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.
God initiated His job before the foundation of the world and continues to complete His work.
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Philippians 1:6 NLT
Because of all He has done, is doing, and will continue to do, as His creation, we should acknowledge His rightful place in our lives.
“You are worthy, O Lord our God,
Revelation 4:11 NLT
to receive glory and honor and power.
For you created all things,
and they exist because you created what you pleased.”
God’s job is to be in a relationship with me.
Unfortunately, when we consider God’s job in our lives, we think we are merely saved from hell and destined for heaven. But God has provided so much more for us. The salvation Christ offers is not merely for escape from hell or membership in heaven. Rather, it is an invitation to a relationship with the living God! Through His great and precious promises, He enables us to experience abundant life now and an eternal inheritance beyond comprehension.
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
1 Corinthians 2:9–12 NLT
Psalm 115 Prayer Pattern praises God’s job in my life.
Psalm 115 Prayer Pattern praises God’s job in my life. How many aspects of His job description can you discover in this Psalm? Use Psalms Prayer Patterns to pour out your heart to God while acknowledging your weakness and His strength as you grow deeper in your relationship with Him.
Insight Journal
- What do you need from God to get through your day?
- How should these verses affect the way I live?
“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.
Isaiah 55:8–9 NLT
“And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.
For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
POST A COMMENT about your insights on your journey toward spiritual maturity! We would love to connect with you!
Excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis.
Available from your favorite book retailers, including Amazon and Redemption Press. (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you.)
Would you like a more in-depth study of Desperate Dependency? Enroll now in our Teachable Desperate Dependency class.
Read more about Desperate Dependency: Finding Christ Relevant to Every Area of Life.
If you would like to be reminded how Christ is relevant to every area of life, subscribe to our email list. You will be asked to verify your request by jumping through a few hoops, but that is for your safety!
