A Short Devotional
As I sit at my kitchen table this morning thinking about the week of snow and even this last year, my mind continues to prompt me of how little control we have over our lives. There are two lies we tend to believe about ourselves and the world around us. These two lies cut us off from the grace and freedom that Christ offers through His Son.
The first is the lie of self-autonomy. This tells us that we are able to do as we please without answering to those around or above us. We forget that we belong to a God who created each human being for a unique purpose and has complete control over our lives. Some may quiver at the idea of not having control, but if you think deeper it may comfort you to realize this control is not one that limits us. It actually frees us to live a full life pleasing to the Lord. Our weakness, performance, and desires are no longer limited but completely consumed by the strength, ability, and plan of the Almighty God. When we submit to becoming a living sacrifice to the Lord, our lives will start to look a lot more like Jesus’ life, shouldn't that be our main goal? Paul David Tripp says it best,
“In a world where you are on your own, where you have to find your own way and independently build your life, weakness is a thing to be feared. In a world where all you have in the end is your thinking, your drive, your performance, and your achievements, weakness is a thing to be regretted. In a world where you have no one to turn to for strength and few who accept you when you don't have it, weakness is a thing to be avoided. What you need to avoid is your delusions of strength. Those assessments of independent strength are much more dangerous. Sin has left us weak of heart and hands, but God’s grace makes weakness a thing to be feared no longer. Grace frees me from being devastated that I can no longer trust me because grace connects me to the One who is worthy of my trust and who will always deliver what I need.”
The second lie we tend to believe about the human experience is that we are able to be self-sufficient. This message leads us to believe we have all the resources within ourselves to live as we were meant to live and do what we were meant to do. It should be obvious to us, especially after recent events, that this worldview is broken. As humans, we are subject to many things that are out of our control whether that be sickness, natural disasters, physical limitations, or relational circumstances. The truth is we were created to be dependent on purpose. God uses these things to remind us of how immensely dependent we are on Him and those around us. Our dependency should not be pushed away or avoided. It should be embraced and valued as Christ did. Even Jesus taught about His dependency on the Father and submitted to the will of God so that salvation would be made possible. Imagine if Christ had not acknowledged the Father’s authority and humbled Himself to death on the cross? Where would we be without the example of Christ washing the disciple's feet? If Christ lived a life of dependency on the Father and His disciples, how much more should we submit ourselves to Him? Because of Christ’s humility, Almighty God ultimately raised Him to sit at His right hand for eternity and used His death to reconcile each of us to Himself. Christ now advocates on our behalf, passing on His righteousness to us. Our pride should fall away and our crowns be laid at the foot of Jesus for this truth has made our way out of our weakness.