The one who tries is the devil!

We live in a time when many are tired. Tired of trying.

They try to get better, they try to change, they try to have faith, they try to quit the addiction, they try to love, they try to forgive. They try to follow God, nothing works… but they keep on trying.

And there is a phrase, popularly used in other contexts, that here takes on a special weight:

Yes. Because he tries. He is the tempter. And whoever lives trying has not yet entered the place of encounter.

Jesus said:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you.” (Mt 7:7)

It is not about trying. It is about seeking with faith, with surrender. And when we truly seek, the Lord answers. Because He does not resist a broken heart.

Rest: a paradox

There is a rest for the people of God.
But entering that rest demands something: effort.

“Therefore, let us make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, following that example of disobedience.” (Heb 4:11)

It sounds like a paradox: effort in order to rest?
But it is not.

The effort is not to reach heaven with our hands.
It is to give up the human attempt.
It is the effort of denying yourself.
It is the effort of letting go of your own righteousness.
It is the effort of surrendering to the direction of the Spirit.

“Trying” is not of God

Jesus called:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11:28)

He did not say:
“Do the best you can.”
“See if you can manage.”
“Keep on trying.”

He said:
Come to me.
Take my yoke.
Learn from me.
And you will find rest for your souls.

Jesus did not only say: “Come to me.” He also said:

“If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” (Lk 9:23)

To deny yourself. It is not a physical effort. It is an inner surrender.

Stop trying

There is a time when God overlooks ignorance.
But when we hear the truth, it is no longer time to try.
It is time to believe, obey and enter.

Whoever lives trying stays on the outside.
But whoever believes and seeks, finds.

Cursed is the one who trusts in himself

Whoever trusts in himself remains bound to the old nature, and that is the curse.

“Cursed is the man who trusts in man.” (Jer 17:5)

That includes trusting in yourself. The curse is not only in “explicit” sin, it is in self-righteousness, in the attempt to save yourself by human effort. That is why Jesus does not call the strong, but the weary.

The Spirit convicts

The tempter offers us shortcuts.
He leads us to try, try, try…
Until we give up from exhaustion.

But the Spirit convicts human beings of three things:

• of sin: the disconnection from God,

• of righteousness: which is in Christ, not in us,

• of judgment: because the prince of this world is already condemned (John 16:8-11).

It is in this conviction that liberation begins.
It is there that trying gives way to faith.
And faith, to rest.

Seek, find and enter

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13)

True seeking is not trying.
It is surrender.

“Whoever wants to preserve his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.” (Lk 9:24)

It is when we lose confidence in ourselves that we enter.

“No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.” (John 3:5)

It is when we give up trying and truly surrender that the Spirit begins to work.

A grain of faith in the heart

Jesus said that faith the size of a mustard seed was enough.
It is not the quantity.
It is the truth of the faith.

“If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Mt 17:20)

And God, through the prophet, said:

“I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring you back from captivity.” (Jer 29:14)

This faith is not performance.
It is surrender.

This seeking is not trying.
It is a broken heart.

It is not about trying a little more. It is about ceasing to try.

It is about letting go of control, acknowledging weakness and giving yourself over. Because the one who tries is the devil. But whoever seeks, finds. And whoever believes, enters.

“Therefore, there remains a rest for the people of God…” (Heb 4:9)

A poetic note on ‘making an effort’

The Portuguese word ‘esforçar’ can be read, spiritually, as a call to surrender to the Spirit:

• ES, from ‘Esse’, the Spirit. Existence itself. The life breathed by God.
• FORÇA (strength), not that of the flesh, but the one that comes from God. The strength to overcome trials, resist evil, persevere in faith.
• AR (air), the invisible that surrounds us. The breath of life. The Spirit who gives breath to the soul.

To make an effort, in this sense, is to stop trying with human strength and to seek, with faith, the strength that comes from the Spirit.

It is the effort of denying yourself in order to enter the rest of God.

“Therefore, let us make every effort to enter that rest…” (Heb 4:11)