Daily Devo

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

By: John Carrigan

Monday, May 11, 2026

For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9

It’s easy to be deceived, or the Bible wouldn’t warn us about it. Paul warned the Corinthian church about false teachers that were trying to make being a Christ follower complicated. They were elevating themselves and leading others astray by belittling Paul and minimizing his ministry. These false teachers were "adding things” to the gospel, so they were actually preaching a different, false version of the gospel.

It may not come from a false teacher, but adding things to the gospel can still happen. For example, we can deceive ourselves by thinking: "the more I do for God, the more He'll love me." Or we can think; "the more I do at church, the more I'll be liked." God does tell us to serve Him (and His church), but He never said we should exhaust ourselves by serving at church until we drop!

God's Word tells us that Satan is very cunning. If we're not careful, Satan can take a good thing like serving God, and trick us into overserving. Eventually, we'll get burned out and our life will be out of balance. Be careful, and make sure God is the one asking you to do things, not people. Learning to say no is sometimes necessary, and I can understand always saying "yes" because I’ve been there myself.

I recall a time when my wife and I were knee deep in a project. We were praying for help, but answer I got wasn’t what I expected! God spoke to my spirit and asked me, “did I ask you to do that?” Then, He let me know what I was doing was my own idea, not His. What made it worse, this wasn’t the first time we’d done a project like that.

If I'm being honest, my pride and my prior success are what prompted me to do those projects. But my personal scenario is a great reminder for all. We can't choose a course of action ourselves, then ask God to bless our plans. Instead, we must consult God first, and ask Him to show us the way... His way!

But God won't show us the way until we surrender our will to His. Our American culture tells us to "be a self-made individual", but we won't find that anywhere in scripture. Instead, God's Word says He will help those who totally rely on Him!

Christ follower, don't make plans without consulting God. After all, His plans and His ways are higher (and better) than ours!