William Carey is well known for saying \u201cExpect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.\u201d Is that biblical?<\/p>\n
Yes. Here\u2019s one passage that gives the foundations for Carey\u2019s words:
\n Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us [the same power that raised Christ from the dead \u2014 Eph 1:19], to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)
\nThere are two noteworthy things about this passage in regard to Carey\u2019s statement: who said it, and what it says.<\/p>\n
First, what does this passage say? It says that God can do far more than we can ask or think of. And he can do this abundantly. So God is able to do great things.<\/p>\n
But is he willing to do them? That seems to be Paul\u2019s reason for pointing out that God is able to do this \u201caccording to the power at work within us.\u201d Note also the connection here to prayer. God is able to do \u201cmore abundantly than all that we ask.\u201d His point is: Pray and ask for God to work \u2014 and he will do far more than what you ask!<\/p>\n
So it seems biblical that we should indeed expect great things from God, just like Carey said. But should we therefore also attempt great things for God?<\/p>\n
This takes us to a second observation about this \u2014 namely, who said it.<\/p>\n
The one who penned this passage, of course, was the apostle Paul. And Paul accomplished far-reaching and incredible things for the gospel \u2014 to the point where he was even able to say that \u201cfrom Jerusalem and all the way around to Illlyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ\u201d (Romans 15:19). In other words, he attempted great things for God (and accomplished them!).<\/p>\n
So, Paul\u2019s words and example demonstrate the truth of William Carey\u2019s statement. His words affirm that we should indeed expect great things from God, because God is \u201cable to do far more abundantly than we ask or imagine.\u201d And his example affirms that, from this expectation, we should indeed attempt great things for God.<\/p>\n
The most important thing is to get the order right. Notice that Carey did not say: \u201cAttempt great things for God. Expect great things from God.\u201d He said the reverse. So, attempt great things for God \u2014 grounding all of your efforts and labor and dreams in God\u2019s grace, supported by prayer, just like Ephesians 3:20 says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
William Carey is well known for saying \u201cExpect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.\u201d Is that biblical? Yes. Here\u2019s one passage that gives the foundations for Carey\u2019s words: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1508,1021,3612],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6096"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6096\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6096"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6096"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6096"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}