Working With God Instead of For God

Over the past several months, a question has been quietly following me.

It wasn't something I set out to study. I wasn't looking for a new insight or trying to solve a theological puzzle. It simply kept surfacing as I prayed, reflected, and went about my ordinary days.

The question was this: Am I working with God...or am I mostly working for Him?

At first, the difference seemed almost too subtle to matter. In fact, I wasn't even sure there was a difference. After all, aren't we supposed to work for God? Aren't we called to serve Him, obey Him, and give Him our very best? Yes, of course. So, why wouldn't that be the right way to think about it?

Yet the question wouldn't leave me alone. The more I sat with it, the more curious I became as I began noticing something new in my own life.

Over the years, my relationship with God has deepened. In more recent years, I would have confidently said that I trusted Him and genuinely wanted to follow wherever He led. I've prayed over decisions, sought His guidance, and tried to be faithful to the things I believed He was asking me to do.

But recently, I've begun noticing a subtle pattern. Whenever something felt especially important—a dream, a decision, my work, or even my own growth—

None of this felt unusual. In fact, it felt responsible, like what a committed Christian should do. But as I began paying closer attention, I started noticing a disconnect. I said I trusted God—and I truly believed I did—but I also carried a surprising amount of responsibility on my own.

That led me to a question I couldn’t ignore:

So, what is God’s part…and what is mine?

Christians have been wrestling with some version of this question for centuries.

Those are important conversations.

But I've begun wondering if there's another question quietly underneath all of them. Not, "How much should I be doing?" But, "What does it actually look like to walk through life in partnership with God?"

That feels like a different question.

In my next few blogs, I'd like to explore what Scripture has to say about God's role and ours. I don't know exactly where this series will lead. In many ways, I’ll be exploring it right alongside you.

🧡 We'll revisit grace and works.

🧡 We'll explore trust and what that really means.

🧡 We’ll consider what true partnership with God might look like.

🧡 We'll look at what it truly means to abide in Christ.

And together, we'll ask a simple question that has been changing the way I think about almost everything:

What if God has been inviting us to work with Him all along, not just for Him?

I don't know about you, but I'm curious to learn more. And sometimes curiosity is one of the ways God gently invites us into something new. Care to join me?