Last night I was in a meeting and out of my mouth came something I realized later is all too true in my world. I said something to the effect of “We have faith in the recession, we have faith in the messups, we have faith in the troubles to come, but we are lacking in faith that God has a plan and that He is in control”
Ouch.
Many of the organizations and individuals I work with currently are going through a period of change. They are faced with knowledge that what they did previously isn’t working for their future. They have controlled all they knew to control, and yet it isn’t working. I think we as humans, think that if we just try hard enough, if we just do something disciplined enough, we will not need faith. We don’t call it a lack of faith, we often mislabel this control factor a flat lie, we say that its “self discipline.” The self part is right, we’re all about self. We prefer to define ourselves, to be only responsible to ourselves, and to keep ourselves where our SELF wants to be. Heaven help us if we allow someone outside ourself to be in charge….particularly if that SELF deep inside us leads us to do something we won’t be comfortable doing.
When Jesus returned to heaven, He sent us the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, comfort and to be continually with us. We aren’t alone anymore. We don’t have to live this life trying to be “good enough” so that we can be acceptable….Christ atoned for anything we might be charged with on the cross. We are acceptable to Him simply by confessing our sins, allowing Him to live within us and to love Him.
The hardest part of my personal new walk is remembering that loving God and loving others will take care of the rest. That in my loving God, I will be drawn to Him, I will hear Him, I will be strengthened and supported by Him….and that faithfulness to focus on loving Him will lead me to love on others, and do the things that keep me in God’s will for my life.
Sounds so simple doesn’t it….
But I have to get that silly old self out of the way, so I can see….self is too busy holding up road signs…..”tried that” “Doesn’t work” “not good enough” “they’ll target me for this” “Who are you to do this?” …..the more self tries, the more I realize that when self is in charge, God can’t be.
1 Thessolonians 5
8But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet.
I have always thought of self-controlled as being in charge of myself, this morning however God has whispered that its more “get your self under control….so that I may lead you!”
