Friday, January 26, 2018

Living Under The Illusion That Your Being In Control Is The Best Way To Live



If God so clothes the grass of the field…, will He not much more clothe you…? —Matthew 6:30


{CHAMBERS} “A simple statement of Jesus is always a puzzle to us because we will not be simple. How can we maintain the simplicity of Jesus so that we may understand Him? By receiving His Spirit, recognizing and relying on Him, and obeying Him as He brings us the truth of His Word, life will become amazingly simple. Jesus asks us to consider that “if God so clothes the grass of the field…” how “much more” will He clothe you, if you keep your relationship right with Him? Every time we lose ground in our fellowship with God, it is because we have disrespectfully thought that we knew better than Jesus Christ. We have allowed “the cares of this world” to enter in (Matthew 13:22), while forgetting the “much more” of our heavenly Father.[…] Many of us refuse to grow where God plants us. Therefore, we don’t take root anywhere. Jesus said if we would obey the life of God within us, He would look after all other things. […] Consecration is the act of continually separating myself from everything except that which God has appointed me to do. It is not a one-time experience but an ongoing process. Am I continually separating myself and looking to God every day of my life?”


{ELGIN}  Are you willing to acknowledge the authority of God over you life?  Or do you buck up against anything that means you are not in control of your life and the events that surround you?  How you respond to earthly authority .. your boss at work .. the government … your parents …. Ah – oh … your husband if you are married … is an indication of how you respond to the authority of Jesus over your life. (Ephesians 5:23) “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.”   (1 Corinthians 11:3) “But I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ.”  (Colossians 2:10) “and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;” I don’t mean for this to sound harsh, but if you don’t like that … then I suggest you go ahead, get some scissors, and cut them our of your Bible.  That way you won’t have to read them.  Problem is – they will be no less true.

Do you want to go your own way and don’t want anyone telling you what to do, even if your way has created significant problems in your life .. maybe repeatedly.  Some people want control so badly that they prefer the relational messes they live in over peace and order if it means they can feel like they are in control, even a little bit.  “My life is a mess – but it is MY mess”  Sound crazy? Unfortunately it’s more common than you might want to believe.  Look – We are created by God … He is the supreme authority in the cosmos … didn’t say universe because that is too small.  As His children, we are to submit to His authority and not continue to trust in ourselves.  Why is something so simple, so hard to do?  Well, it all started in the Garden.  Adam and even wanted to be in control.  They wanted to decide what was right and what was wrong.  To ignore God and do what they thought was best.  You know how that worked out for them.  Why do you think it will work for you????

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