I'm just about done with a book called "The Shack" by William Young. If you haven't read it, you need to, if you have read it, you may want to read it again. For me, the central idea behind this book is letting go of our preconceived notions of God and relying on Him/Her completely. It explains in such imagery the reason we struggle in a world as we do, because we want our independence and God, being loving as He/She is, gives it to us. (By the way, to understand the he/she thing, read the book or talk to me)
I just shared with the leadership team the idea that when we give our lives to Christ, our lives are no longer ours to have. When we want it to be our life, we are declaring our independence from God and saying, "we don't need You." While doing that, we're deciding we're going to judge God. Judge God you say, what do you mean? I'm not judging God. When you declare your independence from God, you're saying, "God, I don't trust that You know what's best for me, I'm in more of a position to run my life than You are."
For me, as I pray I just ask God, "is it because I'm so selfish, or am I scared to let go and trust You? Do I really believe I know better than You do?" My brain keeps telling me, surely not, but my actions keep telling me yes, obviously I do.
Here's the kicker, people will fail you. Your friends, your youth pastor, your pastor, your parents, your brother or sister, your girlfriend or boyfriend, they will all fail you at some time. They're human and that's the best they can be. Christ will never fail you. He always knows what's best for you, despite what you can or cannot see. For you to trust Him, you must know Him and know that He loves you more than we could ever grasp. Declare your dependence on God. Let go of what you think you know and live for what is real.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
I've been battling with this whole life not being your own thing lately because God definatly gives and takes away. And when He takes away, we think "You can't that, it's mine..." at least I did. And I've come to realize how powerful and mighty He is in that He can do that. But I also know that sometimes he takes away in order for us to have a reality check and step back and give Him the glory and thanksgiving He deserves for giving you such a gift. And if He chooses to give, we must realize that although He gave us something, we must first be thankful and sencond we much realize that it is still His, despite the fact that He "gave" it to us. We should probably say God "lends" and takes away...because it's not ours. Never has been.
Post a Comment