S
Stephen_Parry
Guest
As a new Christian, my faith has grown stronger in recent months. I do wish to share something.
We all have our own personalities. My biggest two flaws are impulsiveness and impatience. They haven’t served me well, to be honest. A by-product of those negative traits is trying to solve everything myself in an unrealistic timeframe. Recently, I’ve been trying to be less impatient, less impulsive and giving 100% of my worries/problems to God, rather than giving Him 90% but holding onto 10% and trying to do everything myself.
It helps me in my life to use real-world analogies so I did come up with a little “story”.
A man, let’s call him Stephen, wants his house painted. In the area, there is a professional painter with decades of experience who is extremely capable at what he does. Stephen hires him and tasks him with painting a big room in his home. The painter looks at the room, agrees to do it and prepares to bring in his paints within a few days.
**However, Stephen is a little impatient and impulsive. First of all, he has a quick attempt at painting himself because he is so impatient he just wants it done. It doesn’t go well so he abandons that. Within days, the painter arrives ready to do his work, but Stephen, not 100% trusting in a very capable painter, starts initiating back-up plans: he has other painters’ numbers in his phone, he buys some more paints, he constantly checks up on what the painter is doing and does drafts of letters/e-mails to other painters. He is so unwilling to trust in the very capable painter that he cannot relax or rest about the task and is spending a disproportionate amount of time rushing around with back-up plans, completely UNAWARE that the painter is capable and will finish the job fine within his own timeframe.
Eventually, he learns to stop worrying. He must let the painter paint his house. He must stop looking to interfere or be ready with his own paintbrushes and he must stop wondering what to do if the painter fails. The painter is very capable and WILL NOT fail. In time, the painter finishes the house and has done a good job.**
I am sure you know what I am getting at, with the painter “representing” God. For too long, including in my time as a born-again Christian, I have rushed about trying to solve all my problems myself, using God as a back-up plan. I’ve kept in the Word, I’ve read scripture and attended church - but for the personal problems in my life, I’ve rushed around trying to do everything myself, which has caused exhaustion, not helped my bipolar depression and made me even worse (even making situations worse). And yet all of that time, God WAS EXTREMELY CAPABLE OF SOLVING MY PROBLEMS. If only I had let God be God.
Scripture is important. Communication with God is important. Prayer is important. There is no way on Earth my silly little story can replace scripture/communication/prayer, but I do find it helpful to use mundane real-world references to help me recognize God’s sovereignty. I shall continue to read the Bible and do what a Christian does, but if I ever doubt God’s sovereignty and capability in dealing with problems, I shall try and use the “painter story” if I am in any danger of trying to exhaust myself by doing it all.
I hope this may help anyone. It may not. And, like I said, a story like that could never, in a million years, replace scripture or prayer, but I felt drawn to sharing it.
Perhaps other people have their own real-world/mundane “stories” that can help them remember Biblical truths?
We all have our own personalities. My biggest two flaws are impulsiveness and impatience. They haven’t served me well, to be honest. A by-product of those negative traits is trying to solve everything myself in an unrealistic timeframe. Recently, I’ve been trying to be less impatient, less impulsive and giving 100% of my worries/problems to God, rather than giving Him 90% but holding onto 10% and trying to do everything myself.
It helps me in my life to use real-world analogies so I did come up with a little “story”.
A man, let’s call him Stephen, wants his house painted. In the area, there is a professional painter with decades of experience who is extremely capable at what he does. Stephen hires him and tasks him with painting a big room in his home. The painter looks at the room, agrees to do it and prepares to bring in his paints within a few days.
**However, Stephen is a little impatient and impulsive. First of all, he has a quick attempt at painting himself because he is so impatient he just wants it done. It doesn’t go well so he abandons that. Within days, the painter arrives ready to do his work, but Stephen, not 100% trusting in a very capable painter, starts initiating back-up plans: he has other painters’ numbers in his phone, he buys some more paints, he constantly checks up on what the painter is doing and does drafts of letters/e-mails to other painters. He is so unwilling to trust in the very capable painter that he cannot relax or rest about the task and is spending a disproportionate amount of time rushing around with back-up plans, completely UNAWARE that the painter is capable and will finish the job fine within his own timeframe.
Eventually, he learns to stop worrying. He must let the painter paint his house. He must stop looking to interfere or be ready with his own paintbrushes and he must stop wondering what to do if the painter fails. The painter is very capable and WILL NOT fail. In time, the painter finishes the house and has done a good job.**
I am sure you know what I am getting at, with the painter “representing” God. For too long, including in my time as a born-again Christian, I have rushed about trying to solve all my problems myself, using God as a back-up plan. I’ve kept in the Word, I’ve read scripture and attended church - but for the personal problems in my life, I’ve rushed around trying to do everything myself, which has caused exhaustion, not helped my bipolar depression and made me even worse (even making situations worse). And yet all of that time, God WAS EXTREMELY CAPABLE OF SOLVING MY PROBLEMS. If only I had let God be God.
Scripture is important. Communication with God is important. Prayer is important. There is no way on Earth my silly little story can replace scripture/communication/prayer, but I do find it helpful to use mundane real-world references to help me recognize God’s sovereignty. I shall continue to read the Bible and do what a Christian does, but if I ever doubt God’s sovereignty and capability in dealing with problems, I shall try and use the “painter story” if I am in any danger of trying to exhaust myself by doing it all.
I hope this may help anyone. It may not. And, like I said, a story like that could never, in a million years, replace scripture or prayer, but I felt drawn to sharing it.
Perhaps other people have their own real-world/mundane “stories” that can help them remember Biblical truths?