Unified Under Christ: More Than We could Ask or Imagine

 

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.  Ephesians 3:20-21

 Some of my family members have become involved in a ministry called Celebrate Recovery (CR). This ministry is, “a safe place to find freedom from your hurts, hang-ups, and habits.” Like AA, they utilize a tool called the Serenity Prayer. If you haven’t heard it, it goes like this:

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

 This simple prayer, written nearly 100 years ago, has made a difference in millions of lives. I’m certain that when it’s author, Reinhold Niebuhr, wrote it, it came out of a time of personal growth and challenge and he had no idea how incredibly God would use it in the world – around the world. We have simplified this prayer for its widespread usage, but there is a little more to it. Because I love history and research, here is the full text of Reinhold’s original prayer:

God, give us grace to accept with serenity

the things that cannot be changed,

Courage to change the things

which should be changed,

and the Wisdom to distinguish

the one from the other.

 

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

 

Amen.

  In this prayer, Reinhold, I believe, captured so much of what Paul was getting at in Ephesians 3:20-21 (above). As humans, I think it is completely “natural” for us to want what we want, when we want it, how we want it. We think we know best. We want healing for our bodies or our relationships. We want freedom from debt and insecurity. We want relief from pain and hardship. We imagine what those things would look like, what we desire, and we ask God for them. Thankfully, God, in His infinite wisdom, does not give us what we ask for much of the time, because He sees something so much better that He wants for us.

 “God, give us the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed.” Such a deep, humbling thought. We’d like to see everything in our lives as being able to be changed. I have a genetic condition. Genetic. As in I was born with it and it makes us the actual DNA of my body. I still want to believe it can be changed. I believe in a God who was big enough to create the universe, He certainly could rearrange a few DNA strands! And yet, by human standards, this is one of those things that cannot be changed. You know what else in your life cannot be changed? Other people. You can’t change them. You can’t make them believe what you want them to believe or love you the way you deserve to be loved. Really, so much in life cannot be changed, and it is only through a deep faith in a powerful, loving God that we can come to terms with this peacefully, with serenity.

 “Courage to change the things which should be changed.” Bad news. You know what can be changed? You. Only you (and God) can change you. No one else can do the work for you. And that takes courage. Change is difficult, but change is both inevitable and beautiful. Think about a butterfly. Yeah, some caterpillars are kinda cute, but some are downright ugly. But those little, worm-like creatures roll themselves up into a cocoon, dissolve into goo, and then reform into gorgeous butterflies of every make and model. Our lives can be very much like this. We’re getting by in life, crawling around on the ground or clinging dangerously to the trunk of a tree, thinking we’re kinda cute. Then God steps in, gets our attention, and turns our world upside-down. He starts working in our lives, and sometimes it hurts! We definitely feel like we’re being turned into a lump of goo and can’t imagine how anything good could come from it. But He sees the big picture and knows what’s best for us in the long run. And when we come out on the other end, whether that be in this life or the next, we get to soar! Nothing in imagination would ever persuade us to go back to what we were. But getting from here to there? That takes courage.

 “and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” Wisdom. I’m sad to say that personally, I’m not full of that gifting. But I’m so grateful that I have a personal relationship with the actual source of wisdom, God Himself. I pray to Him daily, hourly, often minute by minute, to grant me wisdom in different situations. And you know what? I can trust that this prayer will always be answered with a, “Yes.” You know why? Because in James 1:5 we are told:

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 

 Understanding, that’s an entirely different matter, but when you pray and ask God for wisdom, He will give it to you. He will help you to see what you can change and what you cannot.  He will show you the right choices, but then it is up to you to obey, to choose the right thing that is put in front of you. It’s not always easy, in fact, it rarely it, but it is always worth it!

Here’s the Thing: When Reinhold wrote this prayer, I bet he could never have asked for or imagined how God would use it in the world! And the same God loves us and is at work in our lives. You can trust Him with your problems, your pain, your heartache. He can, and will, do more than you could ever ask or imagine!