Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Want Peace? Stop Clinging To Things And Cling To The Cross

My Utmost For His Highest
 
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
 
“It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. […] Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate.”  CHAMBERS
 
Have you learned that yielding to God is better than getting your way?  Has life not taught you that you can’t control your circumstances?  That “little I am” that Chambers refers to is you trying to be your own god.  Satan tried and failed.  Adam tried and failed.  Men and women, over the centuries, have tried and failed.  We are the creation, not the creator.  We have the capacity to take a created thing and change its form into something else … we call that “our creation” but it nothing more than a re-creation.  We struggle to control our world but wear ourselves out trying.  It is only when we finally yield to the great “I AM” that things are set right.  But in my experience, we never quite get there completely.  We may yield in a thing, a circumstance, but we still cling to things.  We hold some things in a death grip, fearful that our lives may fall apart, we may lose control, as if we ever really had control over anything.  Our whole lives are fraught with our struggle to maintain control and the fear that we won’t.  Henry David Thoreau wrote, "The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."  That desperation is grounded in our natural desire to be in control when we are clearly not.
 
And so we re-visit a familiar friend. Proverbs chapter 3: 1-13.  “My son, do not forget my teaching, But let your heart keep my commandments; For length of days and years of life And peace they will add to you. Do not let kindness and truth  leave you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute In the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your body And refreshment to your bones. Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce; So your barns will be filled with plenty And your vats will overflow with new wine. My son, do not reject the discipline of the Lord Or loathe His reproof, For whom the Lord loves He reproves, Even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights. How blessed is the man who finds wisdom And the man who gains understanding.”
 
I normally limited my reference to verses 5 and 6, but as you can see, there is much “meat” wrapped on either side of those verses.  I once saw a bumper sticker that said “No Jesus, No Peace, Know Jesus, Know Peace”  Our language lends itself to turned phrases, but often they fall short of conveying the full truth.  Finding peace – the peace that Jesus gives – is through yielding our lives to Him not just knowing Him.  Resisting the urge to be our own god .. the captain of our own ship … instead picking up our cross and following Jesus.  Trusting Him and not ourselves.  That just doesn’t happen because your are born again.  It is a daily decision .. maybe even a minute by minute decision to follow and not lead.  ELGIN

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