those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,'
and those to whom God says,
'All right, then, have it your way.'"
~ C.S. Lewis ~
How many times have we, in the human state, barged in and said "I'm going to do what I want, when I want and nobody can stop me"? The Bible says that our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak, and nowhere is that more evident than when we are in a relationship with another human.
To speak frankly for a moment, for those of us who haven't always followed God's plan for our lives, the flesh has a tendency to outweigh the spirit. Nowhere does Satan tempt us more easily than the flesh, except maybe in our pride.
When we decide that we are not going to "turn our eyes upon Jesus" as the hymn states that we should, the things of this earth do not have a chance to grow strangely dim in the light of His Glory and Grace. We trade in our offering of Pure Gold from our Savior for a pittance of Fool's Gold from the Deceiver.
When we continually flaunt our ugly, second best decision in our Creator's face, because we are determined to be in control of our own lives, many times He has no choice but to literally "let us have it" until we learn our lesson, many times a painful lesson whether with our bodies or our hearts and lives, and realize that God's Way is the best way.
Our will is a curious thing. God gave us free will, so every choice we make is OUR choice. Not the Flip Wilson response "the Devil made me do it". Satan can't make us do anything. He can tempt, he can lure, he can dangle our fleshy desires in front of us, but in the end, it is OUR decision, OUR choice. WE are the ones to make those choices and we can CHOOSE to give in or we can CHOOSE to obey God's will for our lives.
When we instead turn our back upon the lures and snares that Satan lays out for us and instead indeed decide to turn our eyes upon Jesus, our heavenly Father delights in giving us His best and His best will alway outweigh in every way the cheap, tawdry, second best decisions that we always tend to make on our own, apart from God's will.
Believe me, I have learned from that painful experience that God's way is the BEST WAY rather than my own fumbling, feeble, rebellious way that I flaunt in the face of the beautiful, bountiful gifts that God is waiting to give to me, but that can only be mine by submitting to God's will for my life.
*><>* BTW, to see a picture of the most recent gift of God in my life, please read the post below this one! :) *><>*
12 comments:
Well said! God has shown me many times over that His way is better. When will I ever learn to seek His will before stumbling pell mell, head first, determined to do mine.
Very well said!! I am sure everyone of us who reads this will be inspired by your truth about our free will and god's truths and the eloquent way in which you conveyed them. Thanks for participating and allowing us to enjoy your great writing technique!!
I think it's interesting that the Bible never does mention the concept of free will except in the context of offerings to God. Sometimes I wonder if it's not something we invented ourselves so we'd have something to excuse our lack of submission to God's sovereignty.
We're a stubborn, stiff necked bunch, aren't we? It's a good thing we have a Savior!
how very true! I used to say "the devil made me do it along time when I didn't want to be accountable for my actions!
I was reading a couple days ago an Oswald Chambers devotion and he says the Lord keeps bring the thing with which we stuggle with to the forefront until we have it masterd. How true that is. I guess that is why I keep struggling with the same thing over and over. Now I pray "Lord let me learn my lesson THIS TIME!!"
Great post!
His mercies become more precious in light of our rebellion, don't they?
Oh that is one of my favourite hymns, and how often do we not do what the hymn says. Will we ever learn?
Aren't you thankful His mercies are new EVERY morning! Great, encouraging thoughts here.
Beautiful post! Thank you for sharing that!
Great post Nic! I always enjoying reading how the Lord has changed people...hence my blog title.
When I think I want something bad enough, I always ask God if it's just the good or great about it...because if it's just that, I don't want it. I want the BEST! Only the Lord can provide that.
It's a blessing to know you!
Well said, Nic.
Great and thought-provoking post. As we grow in God, hopefully I realize more and more that His is always the best way.
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