All Things

Two of my favorite scriptures are these:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.- Romans 8:28
I can do all this through him who gives me strength- Philippians 4:13

What do I love most about these scriptures? The two key words: ALL THINGS! 

Sunday's section in my devotion this week (a book called The Dare-totally amazing) was about Lordship and what it means to be lord as well as what it means for Jesus to be lord of our lives/my life.  So at the end of the section there was a question. "In your own words, what's the difference between believing in Jesus and making Him LORD of your life?"   It took me a little bit to answer this because I've been taught for years that it's important to have Christ as your Lord and how to go about that, but never was I taught or even told what is the difference is and how it looks.  So after moments of thinking I came up with this answer.

" Everyone believes in Jesus. To say that he didn't exist is to be crazy. Some see him as a prophet, a good man, or even a crazy man, but they still believe. To make someone lord is to no longer have control in everything. It means going before the person with ALL requests-seeking approval or permission before making up your mind or making a decision. It means that everything you own belongs to the lord and you no longer have rights to it. It is an utter and complete surrender of EVERYTHING and ALL THINGS."

So then I thought WAIT A MINUTE! (the thought literally was that loud. I'm pretty sure any mind reader would need ear plugs to drown out the sound of that thought) (P.S. I may ramble in this so just go with)  Of course ALL THINGS would work together for my good because I've already surrendered ALL THINGS to the Lord of my life. And I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me because I've already given lordship over those things. In fact they should have never been in my ownership but God is so nice that He allows me to try and dictate what I have ownership over)"

Now don't go getting all weird on me thinking that this isn't going to make any sense. Just relax and go with it for a second.  Think about it:  Doesn't life seem to be a bit easier or maybe less stressful when you surrender ALL THINGS.  Like "Lord, NONE of this makes any sense and I don't get it, but its yours" and let's be honest that usually isn't said until after you do EVERYTHING in your power to try to make things work and finally you're like "alright alright God I guess you can have it now"  After you say it, you automatically start to feel better. Things may not turn out the way you had hoped or intended but you know in your heart that its going to be okay. Why? Because your Lord has control of it. You've given up the steering wheel and are now allowing him to be in control. You're giving up ALL THINGS that make you comfortable and feel like you know what your doing so that He can make ALL THINGS work together for you good.  Isn't that so cool?

Sometimes we try to take lordship back but really is that ever quite possible? MAYBE but it doesn't go without a lot of struggles. Imagine someone going to the palace and saying, "Queen, its been a great ride but I just feel like I'd be better at deciding things in my life than you are. Don't get me wrong, I think you're a great woman, but um I just don't think you should dictate what goes on anymore. Thanks for everything, but I'm taking over now"    And after a few years of them screwing up in life and making their own choices they waltz back into the palace but this time with their head held not so high they say (and quite sheepishly) "Queen, I'm sorry. I tried to make all the decisions that you do and well... it just didn't work out the way I thought. Can I come back?"   I can't imagine it going the same way that it does with God when we try to give lordship to Him then take it back and the moment we realize how stupid that was we go back to him and ask Him to be Lord again. 

I'm not saying that God won't bless those that don't give him total lordship because God loves us so much that its ridiculous, but I do believe that the relationship that comes from giving Jesus Lordship is worth so much more than the freedom of being my own lord. 

I'm not quite done with this point because I'm still growing in the section in my life, but I just felt like I needed to share my thoughts.  So for tonight, that's it!

Blessings