Yin/Yang

In Chinese philosophy, there is a concept called yin and yang.  These words are used to describe opposite and contrary forces such as male and female, light and dark, hot and cold, and good and evil.  I believe this is also a way of explaining something I have been trying to figure out for many years now. 

I first posed the question to myself and the Lord about 20 years ago.  I wrote this in a poem titled Your will, My will:

You know what I will do in all circumstances

How much of that knowledge is known because You planned it that way?

If it was planned, why am I held responsible?

How much of what I do or think is my will?

How much do You control?

How much power do I really have?

It was during this time that I was questioning the spiritual ladder I was on in order to gain acceptance to God.  At this time in my life, I was reading the bible every day.  I was involved in church choir and singles group.  Additionally, I was a Youth for Christ volunteer.  I was a very good person.  However, I learned that I couldn’t make God love me any more than He already did. 

While I was blessed to meet God in a new and fresh way, my questions above remained unanswered.  We can’t work our way into heaven or God’s favor.  Still, the bible says we are to work out our own salvation.  (Philippians 2:12) Jesus also used a parable of how He would one day separate the nations as a shepherd separates sheep and goats.  (Matthew 25:31-46)  The distinction between the two was works done for Jesus.  Is it faith or works?  Does the bible say both?

I believe most people would agree with me that you can do the right thing for the wrong reason.  God knows our hearts.  While He may be ok with what we did, He sees what motivated us.  While I don’t want to appear to be compromising, I am starting to believe there is a balance between the two.  Let me illustrate with a personal story.

Going into my 2^nd year of college, I determined I was going to train hard and qualify for nationals in cross country.  That Summer and Fall I trained harder than at any point in my life.  I consciously did workouts that would put me in the position to meet the qualifying standard.  During the race where I would qualify, I needed to place 15^th overall.  Going into the last mile of the 5 mile race, I was in 16^th place.  I continued to push myself but realized I probably wouldn’t make up the distance needed to overtake the person ahead of me.  However, about 100 yards from the finish line, there was a runner lying on the ground.  Therefore, I passed him and finished 15^th to meet the qualifying standard.

From this story I hope we can see my point.  There were things I had to do.  I had to work and train in order to be in the position to qualify for nationals.  Also, during the race I had to give it my all.  The people I was racing were giving it their all.  God wasn’t going to just give me the "victory."  I had to show I was serious.  Once I demonstrated the desire I had, He created the miracle that I needed. 

Of course, this is somewhat of a perfect example.  Life isn’t perfect.  In another personal story, I was in a speech contest several years ago.  I got through the first two rounds because I had no competition.  Still, I knew I needed to work on the speech and I practiced as often as I could.  In the city wide contest, it was almost a perfect presentation.  Despite my nerves, I could tell the audience was hanging on my every word.  A month later was the state wide competition.  I had practiced more and I was confident.  However, during this presentation, something happened that has never happened to me before.  My mouth got dry during the speech.  Consequently, it was difficult to speak and my speech was slurred.  When they were announcing the winners, I knew I did all I could and I silently prayed, “Win, lose, or draw, God it is for You.”  I wasn’t in the top 3.

Regardless of what we want, God has His purposes that He will fulfill.  We are His instruments.  As such, our job is to ensure we are as sharp as we can be and ready for use.  Therefore, we are to work to be pure and blameless.  We do need to study God’s word and earnestly pray for God’s will in our lives.  In reality, that is all we can do. 

Yin and yang is the way to live for the Lord.  We are to work to be the best we can be.  We should strive to serve God to the best of our abilities.  Still, we need to remember that our strength comes from God and in cases where we are deficient, trust that He will fill the void.  Also, in all ways acknowledge Him as Lord of all and all our efforts.