Yoked or Unyoked is The Issue of Mankind

Hebrew letters started as pictographs where each letter was a picture. Those pictures can give us insight into what Hebrew words mean.
The Hebrew word for "sin" consists of 3 letters with meanings of separate, clay, & yoke.

The word sin hides this message about what the spiritual condition of sin is:  "Man separated from the yoke of Christ"

This was amazing enough & such a dead on picture. But then I took the Hebrew word that is often translated as "forgive." It consists of 3 letters with meanings of life, two, & yoke. So when the bible talks of someone who is forgiven it pictures "The life of two in a yoke." You & Christ yoked together.

Those hidden meanings then make this scripture a HUGE focal point.

"Come to me, all you who are tired & burdened heavily, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

So this saying of Jesus is perhaps the greatest picture of salvation & a relationship with God in all of eternity.

What does Jesus give?
Rest
Wisdom
Pleasantness/Ease

How does Jesus treat you?
With gentleness & humility

Where have you heard God pictured like this?
He walks & works with you while directly teaching you in a relationship.
He treats you with gentleness & humility, He isn't demanding or harsh.
What He wants you to have most as He lives with you is rest, wisdom, & ease.

This is mind-blowing to me, that the very Hebrew words behind sin & forgive point to this precise saying of Jesus & the beauty of what Jesus describes a relationship with God is like. And let me tell you, it is exactly as He described. If you aren't experiencing God as Jesus described it isn't because you are doing things wrong. It is because you are believing the wrong things about God. Believe Jesus' testimony about Himself. If you think God has treated you without gentleness & without humility you've mislabeled something else as God (probably your own sense of shame). Jesus gives you the rest of having a love relationship with Him. To be yoked with Jesus means He says to you, "We are yoked together but I will pull the weight and carry the burden."


Related Posts
Walking Under the Yoke of Jesus

Cooperation not Control, Commitment, or Promises

Most teach that we should "give God control." That we should pray for God to "control" us. But scripture never uses that sort of language. It says for us to walk with God & to cooperate with Him. It is always a relationship. It is never "all me" or "all Him." It is "us together." That is how Jesus lived with the Father.

We cannot "hand over the controls" of our life to God. God will not magically override your free will just because you said you'd "surrender" your will to Him. Surrender is a term never used in scripture for our relationship with God. The word that is used is "submit" and it literally means "voluntary cooperation." It is a relational walk not a switch off. It happens decision by decision. You cannot blanket cooperate. You have to do it in time as God directs. The idea of "surrender" & "giving God control" is often approached as a switch off. Your part is to pray a morning prayer where you declare blanket "surrender of your day." Life doesn't work like that. You can't say to your boss, "I surrender my day to you" and expect him to do all of your work or even that somehow the right work will get done. Communication lines must stay open.

The bible doesn't use the word "commit" or "commitment" either. Commit, as I've always heard it used in religion, means "dedicate, pledge, promise, to put yourself under obligation.¹" Jesus told us that it is not good to make promises to God (Matthew 5:33-37). Instead He tells us only to use an honest "Yes" or "No" as questions arise. We aren't to live by the promises we make to God but the promises He has made to us. Religion constantly takes the focus off of God & our legitimate relationship with Him in favor of rules to keep & promises to make. Whether it is realized or not both are based solely in human effort.

Making promises to God is ineffective because they are either theoretical or made outside of a situation. Jesus said anything beyond an honest "Yes" or "No" "comes from evil.²" So sad it is then that religion teaches the Christian life as almost based solely on promise making. Repent is falsely taught to mean "promise to God that you will not repeat a sin." It is also taught that you should "repent" however often you do something you think is sin which can be many times a day. (Repent actually means "change your mind" not "to promise to change your mind" but an actual change of mind). Instead of realizing that we "cannot make one hair white or black" we set ourselves up for perpetual disappointment.

God never intended for us to live in an endless cycle of make promise/break promise/shame/recommitment. I dare say the majority of Christians live that way. I lived that way for about 10 years as a Christian. God's love is unconditional and it is based on His perfectly trustworthy promises not on my so called obedience. I say "so called obedience" because most are taught to obey rules/principles that either God never told them to obey or that were never biblical in the first place.

While cooperation (the literal meaning of submission in the bible) can involve you choosing God's will over your own, the focus is not on what you are giving up (like it is with commitment & surrender) but on what God is giving you!

Commitment & surrender are based on human instigation & effort. In cooperation God guides & we respond. God is the instigator, the wisdom, and the power source. We are His beloved children. The more we cooperate with Him through trust the more we will enjoy the love & experience of walking with our awesome Father!

"The love of Christ grips us & compels us. His love holds us together & gives us security. We can see the wonder of His love because He has died for all. So now we who have living spirits may no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. The love of Christ surrounds us!"
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

¹Commit, meaning entrust, is a good thing but it still has to happen as you walk through life. Entrusting yourself to God gives you eternal salvation & a new identity (spirit) in Christ but opportunities for entrusting yourself to God happen as you walk through life with Him. You have to choose to trust Him as things happen. It sounds simple and it is.
²Religion evil? No surprise to me.

Why I Will Never Surrender to God

I just don't like it when people use the term "surrender" when talking about God but I keep running into people using it.

The word "surrender" is not used once in the New Testament. I've never heard it used positively in the secular world unless evil surrenders to good in a battle. We Christians are not evil! We are the loved, righteous, holy, perfected children of God! The first definition of surrender on Google is "Cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority." We are not at war with God! He is our friend, not our enemy!

Some use the word "surrender" instead of the word "submit" but that still doesn't sit right with me. Look how this phrase changes. "Wives submit to your husbands" turns into "Wives surrender to your husbands." Sounds sick and violent to me. Side note:  The word "submit" in the bible is best translated as cooperate. It does not mean "utterly obey," as so often taught. If it did then "Submit to one another" would be senseless.

The great myth of performance based religion is that we are supposed to give our lives to God but the fact of grace is that God gives His life to us. We live by Him & with Him, not for Him. We always have His power and presence.

I hate that religion turns our loving Father into a competing force who blasts us until we give up. It teaches that God's bullets are conviction. Convict is a synonym for condemn and there is no condemnation in Christ! Scripture never says God will convict His children of sin. It only says He will convince them of righteousness. God will never guilt trip you. Don't feel righteous? It is ungodly for a Christian to feel unrighteous. God never causes you to feel that way. Empathy and compassion are godly, conviction is not.

We are in Christ. In Christ there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Stop identifying yourself by the flesh. Christ didn't bear the guilt of your sin just to have a reason to get revenge on you and make your life miserable by guilt tripping you every day. He took your sin away forever. He won't charge you with it. He doesn't even remember it. You aren't a bag of bones. You are God's everlasting & ever-loved spirit child! God is your Father not your foe. I will never surrender to God because I am on His side & Christ has already won the war.

See Also:  Surrender or Submission? Defeat or Victory?

The Responsibility of Our Relationship with God

We incorrectly learn that the responsibility of the relationship is on us. The question is not "How do I build a relationship with God?" it is "How do I begin to recognize how God is building a relationship with me?" He loves us so that we may live through Him and He live through us.

Our willingness to respond and rest is what ultimately makes the relationship happen because a relationship does take two. But when people think the responsibility of the relationship is ours we will make up or perform practices that we think will help us "get to God" that actually make a real natural relationship impossible. We will attempt to define what the relationship is when God should be doing that. Instead of trying to connect with the true God in spirit we follow performance based practices (religion) which cause us to ignore or write off God's advances towards us.

We can't force God to respond to us and trying to is an attempt to control Him. We can respond to Him and let Him reveal His love to us. Taking this burden that is not ours will lead us to work in vain & severely limit God. "Unless the Lord is the builder of the house (people/relationship) those who labor to build it labor in vain" (Psalm 127:1). "Christ is in charge of God's entire house and we are God's house" (Hebrews 3:6).

Religion puts the responsibility of the relationship on us. It tells us to love God before we explore His love for us. It tells us to work for God as an unquestionable slave master who has already given out His assignments instead of walking with a Father and doing work on that journey with Him when He tells us to.

Human relationships involve people trying to figure things out together. We are equal in that regard. God already has everything figured out. He already knows what is best and has already prepared good things for us to do. If we don't let Him be responsible for the relationship then He will still clean up our messes and work things to our benefit as much as He can (Romans 8:28). His love allows Him to do nothing less.

God is the ultimate expert on life and love that is why we follow Him. Most think of submission to God as obeying the scriptures and avoiding destructive behaviors but submission in the bible means "relational cooperation." It only takes place in a living relationship where God is presenting you with something to cooperate with.

We do have a say in our relationship with God. We can choose love or we can choose self and I don't mean selfishness I mean self-effort. We can let Him be who He wants to be, the greatest love and experience of our life, or we can take the responsibility of the relationship on ourselves thus trying to make Him be who we want Him to be for us in our short-sightedness.

The truth is that it isn't about us giving our lives to God, it is about Him giving His life to us. The difference is a life of recurring misery vs. a life of rich joy.

The Letter Without The Lord

When I grew up I didn't have a set schedule to do chores. My parents just told me when to do them when they needed to be done or when they weren't going to do it themselves. If they told me to mow the yard I'd go mow the yard. If they told me to throw out the trash I'd take out the trash. If I approached this as some approach the bible I would think to myself, "One time in the past my parents told me to mow the lawn. I better mow the lawn every day just to be safe." I'd end up wasting my time and wasting mower gas. If that is not the case then I'd think of a time they told me to mow the lawn and feel bad whenever I'm not mowing the lawn. Instead of living by their real time guidance I'd be living by my perception of what it means to keep their past command and by my own feelings of obligation or shame that they never intended for me.

Sadly that is how so many Christians live and how I lived for years. "Spiritual" discipline with the wrong perspective will destroy you. Even reading the bible can cause you harm. Because of your feelings of obligation to read the bible and shame if you don't read it you are more likely to read something at the wrong time and apply it to yourself incorrectly. It is like a first grader trying to do algebra or calculus. If you don't understand the foundations & fundamentals of truths you're going to fail because you are trying to do something that was never meant to be done.

When we look at the bible as a "How to Make God Pleased with Me" rule book we miss everything God has already done for us. We are saved by grace. Grace is God's favor. Grace means God is not displeased with anyone alive because of what Jesus did for the world. God wants all to receive His initial gift of grace to be saved. Once we are saved God never is displeased and always pleased with us. Still He wants to make us aware more and more of His favor towards us.

If you don't know of God's favor for you then you will try to earn what you already have. Sadly most Christians are taught that they are saved by grace (without being told exactly what grace is) but they must live the Christian life by keeping scriptural commands. The Christian experience under this teaching is like this:

Your valentine buys the last box of chocolates from the store & gives them to you. You spend some time expressing your gratitude. Soon after you meet a new "friend" (the church, a preacher, etc.) who tells you that you need to pay your valentine for their gift. So instead of enjoying the many chocolates and the loving graciousness of you valentine you spend your time trying to pay for, earn, something that you already have. And I don't mean "pay back" I mean "pay for" meaning you won't accept a morsel until you feel like you've worked for it. So you have already been given the whole box and the total variety of chocolates. You can enjoy them right now but instead because of your wrong perspective of the gift AND the giver you enjoy little to none of them. You only reach for a piece that is being offered if you feel like you've earned it.

The love of Jesus is not self seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5). He isn't looking to be paid or repaid. He is only looking to love and to give. It is not our obligation to serve Him like a never present CEO. It is our joy to work with Him as a son does with his father. The letter always kills without the Spirit bringing life to it (2 Corinthians 3:6).

The bible is a history book and love letter rolled into one. It is the history of God who is Love. We aren't supposed to "do everything by the book" but by the Spirit. The Spirit will use and point us to the book at times but we know the living God. He lives in us and goes through life with us.

"You search the scriptures thinking that in them you find life and how to live it. Those very scriptures speak of me. I am The Way and The Truth and The Life. Follow me." -Jesus

Obey: An Invitation to Cooperation

Obedience to God is something that comes out of love for Him and others. Sadly most seem to focus more on obeying than loving. Obedience has been made out to be nothing more than adherence to the commands & principles of scripture. But the truth is, true obedience is loving cooperation through the spirit. With God we never walk or work alone.

Obedience starts with Jesus as a friend saying, "Can we do this together?" or with me saying, "I see what you are doing here God. Do you want me to join in?" Obedience still ends with a simple "yes" or "no" but God offers no punishment, anger, condemnation, or loss of favor if you choose not to cooperate. Christ has already taken care of our sins and God understands us fully. He knows who we are, where we are, and every intent of our minds & hearts. He wants to kindly love us to loving cooperation, to change our minds about our refusals because cooperation with Him always benefits someone.. While not all of His loving feels painless at the time He does nothing out of anger, selfishness, or dissatisfaction. God is our helper and our comforter and our friend. Nothing changes us so effectively as His loving-kindness.

Obedience isn't a GIVING IN to Christ's demands but a GIVING OUT of His love and life which are in us. We work with Him to carry out His kindness.

Don't Should on Yourself and Don't Should on Anyone Else

Whenever you tell someone they "should" do something you put a burden on them. It makes them try to want to want. A pure desire isn't motivated by mustered up passion. It is motivated by God's love. When we feel unworthy, scared, lazy, or indifferent God would love it if we came to Him and said, "Lord I can't change how I feel. Reveal to me how you are loving me in this moment and in this day. I know your love will change me."

We put so many shoulds on ourselves that we feel bad or selfish if we don't just get out there and do things for God. The fact is we always please God. We please Him even more by allowing Him to please us by showing us His affection for us. Nothing changes us more effectively than that. We love because He first loved us. Should says, "If you don't or can't you are bad." God as love says, "I'm good so you can."

Those who would call this is too mushy speak from their own pride. They are the type that say, "Just give me an order & I can do it!" True love is only produced by recognizing God's love. Obedience cannot produce love but love produces obedience. Mutual affection is the root of our cooperation with God.

Love and Cooperation, God's Will and God's Best

The Christian life is one of cooperation. God does not use you. You are not a tool. You are His friend not His slave. You are not to be passive but empowered. God will say to you "Will you do this with me?" if you say "No" God will not force you to do it, He will not hold it against you, He will not love you any less, He will not curse you, you will not lose favor with Him. You will however have to live with the natural consequences of not cooperating with your all wise, all loving, all knowing Father.

God knows what is best for you. Amazingly what is best for you is best for everyone, God, yourself, and others. This is possible because God is love and all about love. God's best for you does not mean second best for others. His best always involves people recognizing His love and His love being shown through His people cooperating with Him.

By "God's best" I do not mean "God's perfect will" as it is so often taught. The teaching I am talking about says "God has a plan A and if you miss His plan A then you go to plan B" and so on. That false notion of God's will says that His purpose means more to Him than His people. God's purpose is His people! God does not curse you for your disobedience or lack of cooperation by putting you on plan B. This idea of God's will says that God condemns you forever for your mistakes, not true! If Jesus can redeem you from your sinful state then He has no problem redeeming your mistakes and failures.

God's best (His will) has you experiencing and seeing His love no matter where you are. His best empowers your successes, redeems your failures, and has His love pouring out of you for others. You, God's dearly loved child, get to work with your amazingly loving and affectionate Father. When you understand that serving Him equals working with Him as Jesus did you will not experience the burden of obeying like a servant but the joy of willingly working with a friend.

Jesus said, "I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. I never act alone, I always act with my Father." (John 5:19-20)

See this post for a closer look at John 5.

He Loves You For You

God wants us to love and trust Him for our benefit not out of His need. He enjoys it when we love and trust Him because He enjoys the relationship, He enjoys the affection. He knows that loving and trusting Him is what is best for us.

Many don't think of God as a loving Father. They see Him like an angry boss. They work for Him and are in constant fear of Him firing them (breaking fellowship) if they don't do exactly what He says (obey the written commands and extracted principles in the bible). They think that if they work hard enough and do a good enough job then God will finally acknowledge them, grace them with His presence, and then hand out a few bonuses (blessings) before telling them to get back to work.

A Father and his children can work together but ideally that is not the basis of their relationship. With God everything is ideal. I pray that all of us will see that more and more as our lives go on. The basis of our relationship with God is love not work, duty, obligation, or responsibility. We think God wants us to love and trust Him "this much" but we feel like we only love and trust Him "so little." God is not measuring you. He simply longs for authentic relationship. You simply cannot be commanded and obligated to love when you have never known love.

When we work with Father we see that His work is all about loving others. Love relationships will have their difficulties but what more joyful thing in this world is there than love? That is all God desires for us to do! God knows we love best when we have understood what it is to be loved by Him. When we try to force ourselves to love out of an obedience to a command rather than out of a heart that has been loved by God we will shame ourselves and push others away. They will know that our "love" isn't focused on who they are and what they need but on our own fear, commitment, and perceived obligation to obey a command to keep God pleased with us.

It is impossible to love selflessly when you think you have a God whose love for you is conditional. When you think God's love is conditional you will try to obey His commands to love for the purpose of trying to meet His condition so you can get His love. You will try to perform for God out of fear of losing His favor and that performance isn't out of love for God or for others.

God's love is not conditional but it is often not obvious to us. We will see it more and more as we grow to understand that God is the source of all good and we need do nothing more than to ask Him how He is loving us today.

Instead of thinking "I need to trust God more," trust Him to grow your trust in Him. Ask Him to make you aware of His trustworthiness, to show you why it is best for you to trust Him. God is certainly not offended by such requests. He will not hand you a snake when you ask for fish (Matthew 7:7-12).

God is our Father. Fathers give affection, protection, & instruction. God is the perfect Father who is love. He is the most loving and trustworthy being that exists. He is looking out for our best interests, He is looking to benefit us. What God knows benefits us the most isn't always what we think are our best interests, it doesn't always line up with our ambitions, desires, plans, or goals. God's love surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19). If we trust Him and His love for us we will have the most satisfying journey we could possibly have in this life.

Surrender or Submission? Defeat or Victory?

Surrender
Surrender is not a term used in the New Testament. It is used in church circles usually referring to the biblical concept of submission or yielding. Using the word surrender, I believe, has a subtle impact on how we view God. The term surrender makes it out as though we are at war with God and we give up when He beats us down enough. But God is loving and in no way punishes His children (see 1 John 4:18). Scripture never uses the language of surrender of us in relation to God.

In some contexts the Greek word for "submit" is translated as "be subject" and may have the idea of being subordinate to God in a military fashion. Even there the idea of surrender does not fit because we are on God's side. He is for us, He is never against us. We are not at war with Him and we are not to surrender to Him as if we were.

Prominent Definitions of the English Word "Surrender"
acceptance of despair; the act of admitting defeat; to relinquish to the control or possession under threat, compulsion, or demand; to give (oneself) up, as or as if to an enemy

Submission
"Submit to God" -James 4:7
The Greek word translated "submit" in James 4:7 refers to "a voluntary attitude of cooperation." Cooperation is "working or acting together; agreeing." Biblical submission is a loving trust. It does not have the attitude of "because I have to.." or "since you're forcing me too.." Biblical submission says "I trust your desires are good and loving. I love you so I agree to work with you to fulfill your desires." This is how we are to obey God. Obedience is not merely an outward action in accordance with an instruction. Obedience is an inward trust based on God's love and guidance that results in outward action. There is nothing in the Christian life that does not involve God's love for you and your trust of Him.

The Christian does not need to "surrender daily" but to cooperate with what the Spirit of God communicates over the course of each day. Submission is a situational decision not a blanket declaration. You cannot submit your day to God. You can only submit as life rolls on throughout the day, anything else is pretending. Submission is relational cooperation done in the present tense. Submission is not tapping out because God twists your arm, it is tapping in, into the life, love, and relationship that God has given you with Himself. You cannot give your life to God. As a Christian God gave His life to you. He is your life (see Colossians 3:3-4). We are to simply walk with Jesus in newness of the new life He has given us. There is no promise to make or achievement to grasp just trust God and His love for you as you live in Him and with Him.

See Also:  Why I Will Never Surrender to God

Walking Under the Yoke of Jesus

The true meaning of faith is trust. Trust is a relational word. Trust means we deem Jesus as trustworthy and we put our security in Him. Trust causes us to "take His yoke upon us and learn FROM Him." The result is that we work with Him. It is 100% about walking with, relating to, Jesus in the Spirit.

His yoke is easy, His burden is light, and His commands are not burdensome because they don't consist of all the commands in scripture. The commands are the ones He gives you as you walk with Him. Some of the commands are the ones in scripture but the beauty is that He tells you when and how to keep them. Instead of heaping His commands upon you He guides you during your walk with Him. Jesus does not give me the burden of keeping the whole law. Jesus gives me the rest of having a love relationship with Him.

Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. I will walk alongside you. We will be yoked together but I will pull the weight and carry the burden." (Matthew 11:28-29)

"Everyone who trusts that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him. We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commands.
For this is the love of God: that we keep his commands. The proof that we love God comes when we keep his commands and his commands are not burdensome, they do not weigh us down because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. Our trust in God is the power that conquers the world. The person who wins out over the world's ways is simply the one who trusts Jesus is the Son of God." (1 John 5:1-5)


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Yoked or Unyoked is The Issue of Life

Do We Really Live For God?

"If we live, we live for the Lord; if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s." (Romans 14:8)
This is the only time Scripture clearly says something about "living for God." Here it means "we live because of God." It does not mean "we live for the purpose of attempting to please God" nor "we live on behalf of God." When scripture says that Jesus died "for us" the word used indicates that He died "on our behalf." Even if we take "for" to mean something else than "because of" the scripture clearly says "if we live, we live for the Lord." The condition is being alive. The condition is not our behavior. We cannot try to live for God because, if we are alive, we already do. You always live for God because He is your life, He always lives for you, you live because of Him.

"For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Christ is your life." (Colossians 3:3-4)
Saying "I live for God" is like saying "My heart and brains live for me." Without them there is no life. Without God there is no life. When we say we live for God we separate Him from ourselves. The truth is He is in us and we are in Him. The same ideas go for our own self-efforts. "I try to live for God." Is like saying "My heart tries to live for me but sometimes the dumb thing just don't work right." You are either alive or you are dead. If you are alive your heart is living for you and if you are alive you are living for God.

"Jesus died for all. He died so the living would no longer live life alone but with Him who died for them and rose up for them." (2 Corinthians 5:15)

Serving God by the New Way of the Spirit and Not the Old Way of The Law

Galatians 5 says, "You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace," and "a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." That yeast is the law, a little law takes away a lot of grace. If you put even one law on yourself, God's old covenant law or your own invented law, then you are putting yourself in bondage.

You are to serve God by the Spirit not the old way of the law as Romans 7:6 says, "We have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit." Serving God by the Spirit results in doing the good deeds described in the law and more. One difference is that there is no burden, no guilt, no shame, no condemnation. Serving by the Spirit is walking in the Spirit. It is a walk with God. It is not, as much of Christianity unwittingly practices, a walk without God trying to keep His laws and other moral laws (ones imposed by tradition, society, self, the church).

When you serve God by the Spirit you won't worry about "Am I doing enough? Am I spending enough time with God? Am I being a good witness?" and things like that. The primary questions are "Am I aware that He is with me?" and "Do I trust Him and His love for me?" When you serve by the Spirit you do what you see the Father doing just like Jesus did. We aren't to serve the law we are to serve God. It is falsely taught that serving the law equals serving God or that serving a church organization equals serving God.

"He is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn't live in man-made buildings (temples, churches), and he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else." (Acts 17:24-25)

Hands don't serve God. It is His Spirit in you and the new living spirit He has given you through Christ that serves Him. When you replace "trust in Him" with "trying for Him" your life will have misery because you try to serve God with your flesh, your hands. Jesus said in John 6:63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all."

Thankfully God doesn't judge you by works even if they are done by the flesh rather than the Spirit. He loves you because love is who He is. "Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" (Romans 8:8-9).

Trust and Works

God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved--and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through trust/faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

You cannot earn God's grace, His favor, His approval. We receive God's grace by faith (trust). Now that we have trusted Him and received His grace we can and will do the good works that God intends for us to do. Not only are you not saved by works but you are not approved by works. The works are the result of trusting God's love for you and partnering with Him in life under His yoke.
   
Just like the evidence of life is a pulse the evidence of trust (faith) is loving works. Works without God is like synthetic life. There may be a pulse but there is no true life. Trust brings life. Jesus said in John 6:47 "Truly, truly I say to you, He who trusts in me has eternal life." Works are the result of having life. If you live then you will do. If you live to God because you are alive in Him you will do the good works He has prepared for you. The burden is on God. Your response to His love for you is trust.
   
God's great love, His grace for us, comes first. Trusting that He first loves us brings salvation, we knowingly know Him. Good works come third but they don't come without God's continued love, which never ends, and your present tense trust.
   
Jesus talks in Matthew 7:21-23 about people doing "good works" in His name yet not knowing Him. So it is true that works without trust is dead. If you have dead trust (faith) then you do not trust God because God is life and knowing Him is life and trusting Him is how you know Him. What James (2) talks about is false faith, false trust, because trust in Christ cannot be dead!
   
What James was saying was "You think you know God, you think you trust God? Where is the evidence? Abraham proved that he trusted God by offering up Isaac his son on the altar. The scripture was fulfilled that says "Abraham trusted God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
   
How did Abraham trust God? He did it by action. Trust includes action. Scriptures simplify when we think of them relationally. If you asked me "Do you trust me?" and I said "Yes" then you asked me for help and I said, "You're lying you don't need help" it would be obvious that I don't trust you.
   
God is Spirit so in order for us to know God in this day we have to "trust that He exists and rewards those who seek Him" (Hebrews 11:6). Because Jesus isn't physically on the earth we have to trust Him in order to meet Him. But that also makes it easy for us to talk about Him without actually trusting Him or knowing Him.
   
Excerpts from James 2 in The Message: "Does merely talking about trust indicate that a person really has it? Does merely talking about Jesus indicate that a person really knows Him? Isn't it obvious that trust and works are yoked partners, that trust expresses itself in works? That the works are "works of trust"?"
    
Galatians 5:6 says, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through love." God counts nothing against you but the only thing that counts for you is trust expressing itself through love. Remembering that God is love we could say, "The only thing that counts is trust expressing itself through God." This means your trust in God causes His goodness to come out of you. It is your trust expressed through God inside of you resulting in His love coming out of you.
   
Jesus said in John 6:28-29, "This is the only work God wants from you: Trust in the one he has sent." Dead trust, dead faith, means you don't know God at all. Dead works means, at best you are acting without communicating with God in a trusting relationship, and at worst you also don't know God at all.
   
The issue isn't about worrying to balance separate items. It is all a single unit of God and His love that consists of distinct yet flowing portions. At the beginning from love blooms trust and from trust blooms loving works but it lives on as one organism. He first loved us so we trust Him. We love because we trust in His love. God works with us when we trust Him because He loves us. "For in him we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28).

Working "With God" Instead of "For God"

Much of modern Christianity pictures God as a kind employer who pays well in the next life as long as we do His work in this life. Rarely is God pictured as the loving Father He really is who loves us without condition. God does not have requirements of us. God offers relationship to us. All good works flow from that loving relationship. God does not burden us by forcing us to work for Him. God loves us until we desire to work WITH Him.

Jesus said to His disciples, "I WILL make you fishers of men." He did not say, "Ok, you've met me. Here are a list of my commands. Now get to work!" Jesus built relationships with His disciples. They walked with Him, watching Him work, watching Him show love and compassion. Before He left this earth He gave them His Spirit and promised to be with with them always.

The Christian life isn't about "doing great things for God." It is about walking with God and listening to Him. As you walk with Him He will show you needs and direct you how to love.

Jesus didn't boast "I kept all the commands Father ever wrote down." Jesus said, "I can do nothing by myself. I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. By myself I can do nothing. I seek not to please myself but him who sent me." (John 5:19-20,30)

That is precisely how we are to live, by watching what God is doing and joining in. You are a son or daughter of God. What Jesus said in John 5 applies to how you live your life.

"I can do nothing by myself ... By myself I can do nothing."
That means to do nothing alone, to always work with God. All other work is fruitless. This means that Jesus always worked TOGETHER with the Father and the Father was His chosen source of strength.

"I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does."
Watch God, He will show you what to do because He loves you. You don't need to fear your own ignorance or strive to discover His purposes. Trust that He loves you. Know He is always with you. The more you trust Him the more you will recognize what He is showing you.

"I seek not to please myself but him who sent me."
Jesus' relationship with His Father was fully established. When we have a close relationship with God we too will be able to say what Jesus said. This cannot be truthfully said without knowing God's love for you. We want to please God because He pleases us. That is a loving relationship! God loves us until we desire to work with Him. Working with God is a loving relationship! We don't work for God as if He is a rule making employer. We work with Him like we are in His family because we are! As sons and daughters we work with our Father and our oldest brother Jesus!

Called to Be Cherished

God's will for your life is to love you as much as you will let Him. You let Him love you by trusting Him.

The Christian life isn't an occupation of "What work should I do" or "what position should I hold" or "what ministry should I have for the rest of my life?" The Christian life is relating to Jesus everyday and letting Him lead you everyday. Whether they realize it or not some people hold a mindset of "Now that I have my calling I can stop walking with God day by day and just do my assignment. What I do is important and who I do it for is important but it is not important that I live day to day WITH God." 99% of the time the scripture talks of "God's calling" it refers to God calling someone to be saved not God calling someone to do a specific long-term work.

Instead of doing something for God why not be someone with God?