Let Go and Let God

"What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" Mark 8:36

Sometimes, even though we want God, we want what is in this world too. Grabbing and holding onto the things of this world causes problems. In a lot of ways, we depend too much on this world around us. While it is true that what we need to survive comes from this world, we sometimes become much too caught up in this world in our effort to find emotional and physical fulfillment. It is best to remember this world is a temporary home, because our permanent home is elsewhere.

It is one of the desires of man to have a happy, significant life here - we want to be winners. No one wants to be considered a loser. But in some ways, if we want to be the best Christian we can be, we have to be a loser. We have to lose self in order to find the real self. We have to let go of some things and rearrange our priorities and have them in the correct order.

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Matthew 10:39

Consider the cross, the sacrifice Jesus made there. We can come to Him and receive freely the gift He has given to us. But we have to lose our former life to gain our new life in Christ. We may find it hard to completely let go, make changes and be a real follower of Jesus Christ. We have to be willing to let go of the life we have embedded in this world that is holding us back. God does want us to give up everything we are holding onto that will keep us from focusing on Him. For some He will ask us for that one thing that we refuse to let go. If you feel so strong about something that it has control of you, it may have a higher position in your life than God and the sacrifice Christ made for you. If so, you need to let go and let God. You need to give Him the rightful place in your life.

Jesus Christ wants to have a personal relationship with each of us. We desire that relationship and acknowledge the sacrifice He made for us; but do we ever consider the sacrifice we need to make to serve Him? Each person who has accepted His gift has been given something to do. We each have a ministry of some kind to be involved in for God. It may be in church, or it may be outside of church. But there is something He has in mind for you to do if you have a relationship with Him. God takes ordinary people and does extraordinary things with them. We were created to do works for Him.

Where is your dependence? Is it on the world? It should be on Jesus Christ. When confronted with troubles, we can try and try to solve problems ourselves. At some point, however, the light comes on and we realize we must take it to God. But our first course of action should always be to take it to God first. We must have that humble attitude. The true mark of a fully devoted follower of Christ is our dependence on Him. We must let Him lead and guide us. Stop trying to lead. In many hearts today, is the backward idea that wherever we go, He will follow. We do not have any importance. If Jesus Christ is in our lives, nothing else comes before Him. He wants to be number one in our lives. When we all truly worship Him as Savior and we put His desires out in front, revival will break out. But we must get self out of the way. When we let go and let God, we can make a difference.

We've got a job to. How does your life demonstrate your commitment to the Lord? Be willing to let Him lead you. Becoming a real follower requires a real commitment. It is time to let go and let God have control of your life.

Real Humility

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:  "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’  But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’  Luke 18:9-13

Jesus told the parable of a Pharisee and a tax collector who  were in similar situations but each had very different results. One of them had real humility and the other had a fake humility. When He told this story, the audience were those who looked down on everyone else. Today, we can most likely think back and find a situation in our own lives to make this story appropriate to us. 

The first person in this story was a Pharisee. One of the things we see in this story, is that God is most impressed when aren't trying to impress Him. The Pharisee, however, was arrogant. He had a heart for religion, but his religion had no heart in it. He had picked a strategic place right in the center of the temple so that all could hear him tell God just how wonderful he was. His prayer focused on himself. There is nothing wrong with what the Pharisee did by fasting and giving beyond what was expected. But the issue was that he was not giving with the right motive. He thought that giving beyond what was expected would gain him special recognition from God and he would get to heaven by his works. He thought he was impressing God.

The other person in the story was a tax collector. Tax collectors during this time were consider a traitor to their people. They charged high rates and would take money for themselves. The tax collector in this parable stood away from the others and prayed humbly asking for God's mercy. Real humility will show, and we see it clearly here. Looking on the outside, the Pharisee would have been thought of as being very close to God. But on the inside, the despised tax collector was the one who was really close to the Lord. He was not afraid to admit that he was a sinner. God was impressed with the simple humility of this man. Jesus said that the prayer of the tax collector was answered.

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.  Luke 18:14

God sees each of us for what we are. He knows exactly how proud we are, or how humble we are. Try as hard as we can, by doing good things, being a good neighbor, attending church every time the doors are open, or reading the Bible all the way through, there is nothing we can do to earn His forgiving grace. It is freely given by God to those of who humbly acknowledge Him as the only way. We are redeemed because Christ died for us on the cross. Believe, and receive His gift. 

Real Humility. It's the only way.

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-24

Seize the Day

If there is something that needs to be done, we need to get busy doing it because no one knows what tomorrow may bring.

Throughout history we have examples of folks who were instructed by God to act and they obeyed. God told Abraham to leave his home. Abraham obeyed and the result was the nation of Israel, just as God promised. David, when confronted with Goliath whom others feared, used a sling, a stone and his faith to bring Goliath down. And Moses left Egypt, found out that he was not who he thought he was, and received instructions from God to return to Egypt and free his people from slavery. Each one of these people obediently seized the day. All of these exhibit passionate obedience. To have that passionate obedience and seize the day go well together.

Throughout time, God has spoken to man in many ways: a burning bush, through angels, even a donkey. He spoke to us through a cross and an innocent carpenter who was hung upon that cross. Today, for all that have a personal relationship with Christ, we have a great privilege of the Holy Spirit within us. We do not hear God in an audible voice, but he speaks to us through the spirit. He presents us with opportunities to share the joy of Jesus Christ and what he has done in our lives. We must be passionately obedient, ready to seize the day and share Christ's love.

We can find a prime example of passionate obedience in Philip. Chapter 8 of the book of Acts tells us that Philip was in Samaria during a time of great revival. Everything was going well; but God had another plan for Philip, and it was not in Samaria.

"Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth.” The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be baptized?” Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea." Acts 8:26-40

So Philip left that great revival and headed down the road to Gaza. He had no idea where or why he was going. He did not know he would meet this Ethiopian who needed to learn about Jesus. Even so, Philip went because he was obedient to God's will. We should be ready and willing to obey God even when it seems to make no sense to us. Don't miss any opportunity God puts in front of you because it is easier to just make excuses. There are people all around us who need and want to know the truth and as a member of God's army, it is our responsibility to share with them what Jesus did for us. When God calls us to do so, be available, be obedient. Seize the day!