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Striving

by Tina

I believe that there’s a beneficial type of striving and a fruitless brand of striving. When we’re striving in our own strength we fight God. We don’t have to. He’s for us, not against us. Moreover, when we strive for our peace in Him we will find it. (Romans 8:6, John 14:27)

I have to admit, I can sometimes begrudge striving, but that push is so necessary. The alternative is to go backwards. I don’t like this! I’m stubborn! When I make my mind up about something, it’s full speed ahead. But that can be a problem too. I get excited!  I’m too gung-ho. I don’t always appreciate waiting for God. Being hungry for righteousness is good, but lack of patience isn’t.

I struggle to maintain the balance, but I keep striving for it. This way I’m bound to catch on eventually with God’s eye opening lessons and plenty of practice. The apostle Paul did press on towards the goal, but he also learned to be content in all circumstances. This gives me hope that it will get easier, and that goals are achievable. 

Jesus has it worked out. We just have to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness as we pursue that growing forward mindset. Jesus is King, and He will be exalted among the nations.

“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Psalm 46:10

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

Luke 13:24 

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Hebrews 12:14

(Photo courtesy of Pixabay.com user Bru-nO)

I love it! The difference in the colour of each grape is a great reminder that we are all at different stages of growth. But look at the beautiful picture it makes! ❤

17 thoughts on “Striving”

  1. Yes! I totally understand this! I am a very goal-oriented person, and sometimes the wait can cause anxiety. The silver lining is the ability to press forward due to the motivation we experience. The need to learn patience is the lesson. What a lovely metaphor when referencing the photo of the grapes

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    1. Thank you. For me the striving is most difficult when I don’t feel so great. Which has been quite frequent these last few years. But it helps to look forward. It’s the looking back and begrudging the struggle that gets ya. So I definitely have to press on to not let those backwards glances convince me that the road ahead will be more of the same. God gives strength to the weary. ☺

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    1. Yes, God sure layed it all out there for us in everything He’s created. I often think in metaphor. This one time I woke up from a nap and one of our cats was hungry in the middle of the day, so she was up on the counter searching for something to eat. My thought was, “Well at least she’s hungry.” I actually think that was from God because I had been tripping over myself and beating myself up. I felt it was the Holy Spirit reminding me that atleast I’m hungry for righteousness. That’s a start right? God is always happy to see the work begin. Ugh… 😢 I got teary typing that.

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      1. I think many of us are too hard on ourselves and we shouldn’t, considering how much God loves us … but I’m guilty of doing it too! It’s a great thing to hunger for righteousness. 💞

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      2. I’m getting better at being kind to myself. I’m laughing at my insanity more these days. The other day I proclaimed to Andrew, “I’m not perfect and I’ll never be perfect!” Somehow those are very freeing words. It doesn’t mean that I won’t continue to “grow forward.” It just means I don’t have to be so hard on myself.

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  3. Hmmm. There can be fine line between striving for the kingdom of God with our hearts in the right place versus going overboard and working far too hard and jumping ahead. Thanks for this great post. You have given me something to think about! We need to remain grounded in Jesus with the help of the Holy Spirit! 💕

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    1. Yes! I can’t wait for Summer too. I was looking through some of my summer pics recently. We do at least have some sunshine, and no snow on the ground. That can change quite quickly here though.

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  6. Lovely analogy with the picture of grapes. Striving towards staying in Him and growing in Him with all that life throws at you can be tough but is good. But we do not always feel in our best shape internally to strive.
    Patience is something that is so important to learn and God has been teaching me to be patient and trust in Him and His timing but it is not easy.

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  7. Wow, that is a beautiful picture! The verses you mentioned are interesting. Sometimes God says to strive and other times He says to cease striving. I guess there comes a time we must just rest in between our striving. This is something to ponder. Great post Tina. Thank you. ❤️

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