There can be absolutely no self-reliance when it comes to serving Christ. Christ is not asking me to be something I can be on my own. He is asking me to trust Him to make me what I cannot become without Him. In my own self there is nothing good nor righteous (Romans 3:10, 23). In Christ, however, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). My being what Christ wants me to be happens when I stop trying to work for God and allow Him to do His own work. He doesn’t need my help!

Whatever it is God has called us to, we can be sure that it is only He alone who will and can do it (Philippians 1:6, 1 Thessalonians 5:24). My commitment isn’t to a better attempt of self-realization but a realization that nothing in my self can ever do the work that Christ has already accomplished for me. The commitment is to accepting what God has already accepted. When I am resolved to let Christ re-create a clean heart in me, to renew a right spirit within me (Psalm 51:10), then God is glorified in who I am and what He does through me.