Editorial July 14, 1986 Issue

The work is ours, the power is God's

WILLIAM E. MOODY

"Let go, and let God"—that's an old saying which has seen a lot of mileage. On more than one occasion I've heard these words offered as well-meaning counsel to someone facing a difficult challenge or personal crisis.

The saying may have some usefulness if it is meant to encourage one to relinquish human will, pride, self-centered aims, or a sense of desperation, in favor of God's will, purpose, and direction. But there is also a danger, if the saying is taken too literally. (The person hanging from a cliff might be well advised to give the words a second thought!) And there's a danger if, as an offhand comment, the statement could encourage someone to abdicate responsibilities that are rightly his own. It's in this last area that we may need to be most alert, for there's an element of human nature that would be happy to find an excuse not to perform one's own work. In terms of spiritual development, this would be deadening to individual progress.

Christ Jesus surely expected his followers to do the work required of Christian disciples. He sent them out to preach the gospel and heal the sick, and there are a number of accounts of the Master's own healing works where he reminded those he restored that they had obligations to fulfill. To the man at Bethesda, who had been ill thirty-eight years but was at once made whole by the power of God, Jesus said, "Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee."^{John 5:14.} To the Gadarene, healed of insanity, Jesus said, "Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee."^{Luke 8:39.}