With

With. The dictionary defines the word with as accompanied by or accompanying. 

 

For a long time I haven't understood the idea of with. 

I understood the idea of being responsible, of being good, of being dependable. 

I understood what it meant to show up and work, to follow the rules, to be held accountable, to be dependable. 

I understood the idea of doing something for God, of being something for God. 

None of these ideas or concepts are bad. They are all filled with good intention, with a desire to strive, to prove, to work, to honor, to serve, and to encourage. And it was all done for God. 

The thing that I didn't understand then, that I understand now, is that while I thought my focus was on God, it was really on me. I was focused on what I could do for God. How I could work to serve God. How I could be good for God. Ways I could encourage others for God. 

The focus, the goal was good. But the route, the path, the understanding wasn't right. 

I was doing all of these things for God. 

But, the invitation is to do all of these things with God. 

When we do things for God, we think about how good we are because of what we have done. Over time we can easily can become enamored with ourselves and even become spiritually arrogant. We pride ourselves in our actions and whether we mean for it or not we have unintentionally served ourselves and not God.

The motivation of doing for takes God out of the equation and the only thing left is me. 

I didn't understand this for a long time. 

So, I worked and I did and I strove and encouraged and proved and read and focused all of myself on being for God. Over time, I felt that because I did things for God that He should love me, honor me, be proud of me. 

But this kind of relationship is not one of love or respect, it is one of indebtedness and bargaining. If I do this, then I will get that. 

What I found was that it was empty, lonely, and unfulfilling. 

With: to accompany. 

With: accompanied by. 

With: relationship. 

When I changed my thoughts, my prayers, my perspective and started thinking about doing things with God, serving with God, being with God, then my whole world changed. 

I was no longer working for alone, I was working with. 

The focus was off of me and on us. 

The honor and glory and love wasn't on me, it was on the relationship I was given. 

It is never wrong to do things for God, it just isn't the way it was meant to be. He did not call us to work for Him. He called us to work with Him, in relationship. 

I am not a master of the English language. I do not always understand prepositions and participles and suppositions and other like things. But I love words and respect the power they have within. And I know that shifting my whole focus from living for God to living with God has changed my life. 

It changed my life by teaching me about relationship, about surrender, about freedom, about love. 

I'm learning to live life WITH THE HOLY. Won't you join me?