By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
2 Peter 1:3 (NLT)
Work smarter, not harder. It’s an expression corporations and organizations across the world have adopted to help motivate their employees. The concept is quite simple: Rather than working longer hours, bring in some brain power to help figure out a way to work more efficiently. By doing so, the workers are less stressed, and the organization benefits by saving money on payroll and other things. Many organizations hire consultants to come into their offices to observe the work and then provide suggestions to improve the work-flow and make things operate more efficiently. The strategies these consultants use have cool names like, “Lean,” or “Sigma,” or, my favorite, “Lean 6 Sigma.” They all promise the same thing, reduced effort and improved workflow. I’ve actually heard them called “Workflow Ninjas” before!
When it comes to living a godly life, sometimes we truly believe that if we just work harder, or use our brain power, we can figure out a way to live according to the guidelines that God gives us. If we just develop a strategy, create a service model, memorize an acronym, or focus more clearly on perfection, we can attain it.
Here’s the problem, there aren’t strategies, work flows, models, or other man-made things that can help us lead a godly life. Only God can do that. Why? Because He’s the only expert in the universe that knows anything about being Go. Jesus is also the only human in history to successfully live a perfect, godly life. Let me put it this way: Trying to live a godly life without having God provide His expertise is like inviting a kindergartner into your manufacturing plant to examine your company’s workflows and give you input on how to run the perfect company. It’s a ridiculous concept. God is THE Workflow Ninja.
So, how do we live a godly life? By hanging out with God. By talking things over with God. By reading the Word of God. By surrounding ourselves with people who are on the same journey. By belonging to a church community that pushes us toward God. Are you getting the picture? In order to live a godly life, we’ve got to focus everything on God.
ChadReisig.org 