A friend in the Air Force once told me that their unofficial slogan was “Work Smarter, Not Harder.” Many of us have heard this pithy advice at some point and been delighted by the discovery of an easier way to do things that accomplishes the same results.
 
On the other hand, there are cliches about hard work and more effort like, “No Pain, No Gain.” Or “Work first, Play later.” These also have some value and have likely come out of the mouths of grandparents and parents at some point.
 
When it comes to our spiritual lives we can pick up on the things that our culture emphasizes because it’s what we’re used to. Hard work will pay off. So we think that the route to a better spiritual life, or closer walk with Jesus is to work harder at it… “If I work harder, I’ll become a better person.”
 
As we enter the new year, we may even have resolutions that sound like that. Something like, “This year, I’ll work harder at being a better person… maybe even a better Christian. I’ll read my Bible more, be more patient and kinder, and help more elderly people across the street.” 
 
 And yet that just adds stress and anxiety to our lives when our resolutions fail or get interrupted. We can get frustrated and feel like we’re not growing in our relationship with Jesus because our good intentions and initiatives to be more like him fall short.
 
Good news! Your spiritual growth is not based on your ability to try harder.
 
Paul writes to the church in Phillipi, “…that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” 
Who started the work in you? God. 
Who will continue the work in you? God. 
Who sticks with us, shaping and forming us into the person he’s made us to be until we’re completed? God. 
 
My encouragement to you this year is to let continue to do a good work in you. It’s not based on your striving and working harder. If we’re going to put our efforts into something, we can follow the call of Jesus to die to self. As we honestly talk with God and invite him to have his way in our lives, he’ll show us what our next step should be. If we make ourselves available and posture our lives in a way that enable us to have ears to hear, God will speak.
 
A listening posture includes times of reading our Bible, solitude, prayer, etc. But those activities don’t tally up spiritual brownie points. They foster intimacy with Jesus. 
 
Paul goes on to offer a prayer for the congregation, and I’d like to pray this over you as well…
 

9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. (Phil 1:9-11)
 

May 2025 bring you to a whole new level of love, peace, joy, hope and rest in Christ as you submit to his will and allow God to do his work in you!
 
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Nate

 
p.s. This was inspired by a chapter in Steve Cuss’ book, The Expectation Gap, which is a worthwhile read!