Duh, right? Like, how could you not know that? Well I still don't and I've been following Jesus for quite some time. Sometimes I think to myself like, "yeah, I know that. When I gave my life to Jesus I surrendered my will to His," which is ultimately true. But it's not just about that one act (although that's SUPER important). Christ wants me to surrender my will to His every minute of every day.
"Well I'm sorry, I just can't do that, at least not totally," I think to myself. WHY?! Why is it so hard to just let it all go? To relinquish power and control over my life? I find it almost humorous that I can give control over to God in every area ... almost. There's just that one thing I like to keep my grip on as if I know best. We often say, "yeah, yeah, I know that God knows best, but in this one area, I'm just gonna do my thang, athankyou." It's like the door we awkwardly rush to get in front of when someone is over our house because we don't want them to really see what's inside. We like that room the way we want it.
Ugh.
This is definitely still a struggle in my life today and odds are, it's in yours too. It's hard to do as Mark 8 says, to die to myself, carry my cross and follow Jesus. There are just so many things that I think I know best. But I don't. God wants the best for me in all the areas of my life: relationally, financially, vocationally etc. You know what they say, "Father knows best."
very true, I loved the analogy about the room we don't want people to see in. My family built our house a little less than a year ago so we still have people stoppiong by and wanting tours. Luckily my room is downstairs so while they are looking upstairs I rush to make my room look nicer so they don't really see what it looks like. I throw things under the bed, in closets, stuff things from my desk into drawers just to pretend I'm not a mess. But the under the bed and closets are just temporary solutions that don't solve the mess (if amything it really makes it worse). I think I do the same thing with God sometimes. I know He's looking at certain areas of my life so I try to clean them up real quick, or at least hide the things I don't want Him to see when all I am really doing is packing the mess deeper creating a very temporary solution that is no solution at all. I guess I just need to open my room up to God and say "I'm a mess, will you help me clean it up?" If only I could do that to our visitors as well!