Have you ever had a great opportunity you just didn’t want to miss?  Have you ever done something you weren’t planning on doing, only because it really needed to be done?

What about this… Have you ever taken responsibility for something that you knew you were not really made to do, but you thought, hmmm, if no one does this awesome thing, it would be a tragedy?

I know I have.  But there is a problem with this typical reaction.  There is in fact, not only a problem, but a huge sin involved.

Doing good that you were not created to do steals glory from God.

Let me explain.

God did not make you for you.  He made you for Him.  If you are a Christian, you probably agree.  But if this is true, which I will defend, then God’s will for your life is more important than yours.

Again, you probably agree. Let’s keep going down this road of logic.

God created you for Him + God’s will is more important than yours = He wants you to do His will, not yours.  He wants you to live in His design, not your good opportunities.

What does this mean?

When you live in your identity, you give glory to God.  You obey Him, but you actually give Him worship through your actions and activities.  So living in identity is worship.  It glorifies the creator of who you are.

So when you don’t live in your identity, you don’t give glory to God.  You miss a chance to say how awesome the Father is.  I think you would agree this makes sense.  But let’s keep going down this rabbit hole.

When a good opportunity comes up, and it doesn’t fit your identity, you may do it.  But what if God made someone else for that job, we just haven’t found that person yet.  When you do a job that God made someone else to do, you are removing the opportunity for God to be glorified.  This is your active choice to remove worship from God.

When you chose to do something good that God created someone else to do, you steal glory from God.

We have the added pressure as believers to be motivated to do good.  We want to.  In fact, we even feel greater pressure if you believe that for us to not do something that we know is right, we sin. (James 4:7)

CAREFUL.  Satan is using this verse to catch us.  Not doing right is a sin.  But not doing good is different then not doing right.

We must not do what is good at the sake of what is right.   If God created you to do something, and I do it because I don’t see you doing it out of fear, or lack of commitment, I’m still doing something that God did not create me to do.  That’s not right, even if the thing is good.  Good does not equal right.

How To Safe Gaurd Yourself From Stealing From God.

So here are some steps for you to take if you want to safeguard your feet from walking into something good, that isn’t right. Yup, I said it.  You are not called to do everything good in front of you, only what is right.

Here is the scenario.

You are at church.  They ask for volunteers for a ministry that is vital for growth.  It’s not a one off event, but it’s a longer term commitment.  You know it needs to be done, but you also feel that you are not created for it.  You feel shame because they say, that if you don’t do it, no one will step up and it will hurt ministry. They even go so far as to say after you don’t feel designed for the ministry that God doesn’t call the qualified, but He qualifies the called.

Step One.  Figure out if God made you for the job.  Don’t give into the guilt of the good, serve the God of the right.

Step Two.  Decide and commit to the right yes.  If you don’t believe that God has designed you for the task, commit to the “right yes”. What is the right yes?  Live in your design on how it supports the good thing.    A quick example is that when I have to say NO, I often know of the person that should do the thing.  The right yes is that you can talk to them about how God created them for it.  “Yes I can help, I’ll help you find the person for this.”

Step Three. Live in your design.  This is the only way to give glory to God.

Good actions doesn’t glorify God, right actions do. Live in your design and glorify God. Help others to live in their design, and God get’s even more glory.