I give up.

I give up.

I can’t do it all.  Duh.

I don’t have to look far to see my shortcomings, my failures, my laziness.  I don’t dust enough (as evidenced by a finger run across my mantle), I don’t sweep enough, I don’t floss enough, I don’t write thank you notes promptly enough.  I also don’t remember to send birthday cards or gifts to family.  I don’t keep my desk organized enough.  I don’t iron enough.  I don’t clean out my purse enough.  I don’t exercise enough, I don’t drink enough water, I don’t read enough.  I don’t write enough.  I don’t respond to texts and emails quickly enough.  I don’t monitor my kid’s screen time enough, I don’t clean out my fridge/closet/pantry enough.  I don’t work enough, buy organic enough, kiss enough, or play board games enough. 

Enough is enough.

The popular response to all of this negative self-talk is to say “you are enough!—just the way you are!  You are lovely and wonderful and not-at-all a failure!”  And that all sounds great, but in truth, there is only one Person who is enough. 

Yesterday morning, I forced my pre-teen daughter to read her bible (because I don’t do that enough either), and she read the first several verses of Psalm 119. 

When she got to verse 9, she had a question.

How can a young man keep his way pure?

By keeping it according to Your word.

Pointing to the verse with furrowed brow, she said, “but Mom, it says that in order to stay pure, we have to keep the word.  But how can we do what the Bible says all the time?—I mean, we aren’t perfect.”

That is the question, isn’t it?  HOW???

The answer is: GIVE UP.

What?

Well, for us to live according to His word, we have to know it.  So, reading the Bible is a good idea.  But once you know it, does that mean you are able to do everything it says perfectly?  Um, no.

But Jesus did.  He kept every letter of the law and lived his life according to God’s word.  Therefore, He is pure.  And when we trust Him as our savior, we step under His umbrella of grace and when the Father looks at us, He sees Jesus—who not only kept the word, He is the Word. 

So, how can a young woman keep her way pure?  By keeping her way (her life) underneath Jesus’ wing: by yielding to Him...by giving up.

Look at the next verse in Psalm 119…

With all my heart I have sought You;

Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

That last line—“do not let me wander” sounds an awful lot like asking Him to hold your hand and keep you from stepping outside of what the Bible says.  Therefore, it’s by His strength that you are able to keep the word. 

I’d go so far as to say that Christians don’t have an obeying problem they have an abiding problem.  If you are living outside of God’s commands, it’s not just because you are disobeying.  If you did obey every single rule under your own strength, then you would get the glory:  Yay you!—you drink 8.5 glasses of water every day!  Yay you!—you are always on time! Yay you!--you feed orphans and take care of widows and never judge!  Yay you!—you are neat and tidy and read your bible and pray without ceasing.  You are more than enough—you are amazing! 

In short, you are your own god.  Yay you.

BUT, when we abide, we yield.  We put our hand in His and let him guide us each and every moment.  If He guides us into prayer, we pray.  If He guides us into reading, we read.  If He guides us into grocery shopping, ironing, cleaning, reading, we do that.  But He gets the glory.  He is enough.  Jesus is at work in us.

In short, He is God and we are not.

I think that Satan would have us say to ourselves: “I am not enough” and then either keep striving to be better OR (the culturally popular choice:) declare ourselves enough as if by stating it loudly, imperfection can somehow be considered perfect.  (Scary.)

But, Jesus would have us say: “I am not enough” and then put our hand in His and let Him guide us, strengthen us, and mold us into all that He can make us.  He does the work, He gets the glory, and what do we do? 

We give up.

John 15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser....Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit [c]of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.