My Will, but not My Power

I believe that the Spirit brought this to my mind the other day: we often confuse--or, perhaps more accurately, we conflate--the concept of our will with the concept of our power.

Take this statement, for example: "You are responsible for your own spiritual growth." Now, that statement is completely and utterly true when it concerns our will. We, as followers of Jesus, do indeed have to make an intentional choice to follow him, which entails choosing to do certain things and practice certain disciplines that, when energized by the Holy Spirit, will form the life of Christ in us. In that respect, it very much is our choice and our decision. Without us choosing to do so--without making the decision to personally and devotedly follow Jesus in the ways he has directed us to follow him--we indeed will not grow. We must engage our will, and submit it to God's will.

However that same statement--"You are responsible for your own spiritual growth"--becomes an utter lie when it concerns our power. We, on either side of death, are forever incapable of growing ourselves. We can not produce or manufacture this maturing and developing life of Jesus in ourselves, no matter how disciplined we are, and no matter how hard we have willed it. God has done it first by breathing his breath of life into his image. Jesus has done it again by regenerating God's broken image within us, through his death on the cross and resurrection to new life. The Spirit continues to do it as he guides us on the various paths all leading to our death (to ourselves) and our life (hidden in Christ). And while we can choose to do certain things that allow us to experience and participate in this redemptive work, we never at any point discover ourselves to be the Redeemer. God reveals to us that our own power to bring about any of this God-life at every step is both wanting and impotent.

As we come to understand this distinction between our will and our power, I think that it becomes our responsibility to leverage it on our ministry philosophies, our programs, and other ministry means. My guess is that we have a lot of programs that masquerade as operating only by the fuel of God's power and the additive of our choice... but, in reality, are operating by human power.

How many churches and church programs have such a short shelf life for this very reason?