The Call Of Connectivity
Discounting From Our Agenda
Romans 7:15-20 (Amplified Bible)
15For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns]. 16Now if I do [habitually] what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it. 17However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.] 19For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. 20Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me [[b]fixed and operating in my soul].
I remember a time when my son was much younger; we had gone to Maryland to be with my sister for her graduation. Our whole family was present. We were going out to dinner and we needed to go to a place where my father who is diabetic could eat and not have a long wait, so my mother and father asked for suggestions and my son spoke up and said he wanted to go to TGIFriday’s, we all agreed and off we drove to the closet location. When we arrived and approached the entrance way, we saw quite a few people standing outside waiting. We reached the hostess and put our name on the list, but promptly asked how long the wait was, she informed us the wait was one hour and forty five minutes. We all looked at each other and knew that this would not due because my father’s condition would not allow for it. So we asked that our name be removed from the list and we convened outside to work on a new game plan. We made a command decision to go to Boston Market, well this did not bode well with my son, who had his agenda already set. He could not see himself deviating for anything in the world, and it was written all over his face and his demeaner. When we arrived at the next restaurant, we all ordered and my son was repeatedly asked what he would like, he replied “nothing,” with arms folded and lips poked out. My daughter was upset, I was spent by this point and wanted to deal with him and his stubbornness, but my parents intervened to slow my roll. My son was so stuck on His agenda and what He wanted He could not see the need that should have out weighted his wants.
How often do we do the same thing? We have an agenda for our lives and the way we do business and how we will handle life and even others and we find ourselves stuck right there, blinded by our own need to control things and have things the way we want them. But God instructs us to take up our cross and follow him. The cross is a sign of the sacrifice, the cost that it takes to follow after God’s will. It is important that we too must learn to lay down our lives, our agenda’s for the agenda and the ways of Christ even when it is unfamiliar, uncomfortable and difficult at best. When we make the decision to follow Christ it means we give up the lead, when we make the decision to truly become a servant it means that we stop being the master. We learn that God is the one that has control of the reigns and we are the one with the bit in our mouths, He should be able to lead, guide, direct, instruct and teach us, without resistance.
So be real with yourself (because God already knows the answer), ask yourself, who’s agenda is in operation in our lives? Have we laid all of us down and disconnected from the I, me to the He and we? In many of our cases if we are being real, the answer is no. It is time to let go and really let God be God. We have to make the choice to Disconnect from our reputation and our plans, to connect with the truth and the will of God. God’s way truly is the best way!
No comments:
Post a Comment