Owning Your Relationships, Pt II...

Psalm 4:5 (Amplified Bible)
5) Offer just and right sacrifices; trust (lean on and be confident) in the Lord.

I was at work and a young woman walked up as an older woman walked up, they both were heading for the same place at the same time. As I looked at the younger woman as she approached and saw there was only one person available, I saw the frustration and the aggravation settle in as she yielded to allow the elder woman to get help before her. As she got to me and I began to greeted her and asked her how I could help her she sighed and gave me a half smile. My only response was God knows what we need when we need it. She looked up and said you are right. She began to relay the fact that God had been working on her in the area of patience and that she had gained some but she had not obtained all that she needed and she was well aware, of that fact. She said this incident reminded her that God was in the midst and still working on her, and it reminded her of where she had come from and where she needed to get to.

Often times we want to equate our frustration to things or the events of the day or in some cases the events of our lives. As we go through things we question God's loyalty towards us and why He would allow us to continue to see the same test or to have to visit the same refiners fire again. It is mainly because we have not brought God all that we all, warts and all. We act as if we have something to hide from Him and that he is incapable of seeing anything that we do not allow Him to see. We act as if God should be thankful that we go to church once a week, and that we give anything, whether it is tithes, offering, time or talent. We act as if we are doing God a favor. But in actuality we have not learned to bring God our all and trust Him with everything, even those things that challenge and cause us discomfort. It is not a our job to pick and choose what we allow God to work on, or to clean out of us, or teach us. It is not our job to set boundaries for God, but it is our job to humble ourselves and to make ourselves aware that we have far from arrived at the place of glorification.

We are a work in progress. Isn't it time that, we take ownership for who are in Christ. If we are to be overcomes, is it not our place to surrender to the trial and trust God to take us through. If we are to be one who is a leader, are we not responsible to become a follower first. If our aspiration is to be more like Jesus, is it not our responsibility to own obedience, and to pick up our cross and carry it. What we put in is what we get out of relationships. What we allow God to put in, is who we become. Today ask yourself, who is responsible? Who sets the tone for my ability to gain and learn and put on more of the things of God? If you are looking at every one but yourself it is time to look again. We all need to be starting with the man or woman in the mirror! How much can you offer to gain glory of God?