See, you all thought I had forgotten. Well, it turns out I was just busy and unmotivated to type for an extended period of time. :0) Well, I'm back so let's get talking about control again!!!
I can't tell you how many times I've come back to this control thing. I have such a problem with control that it really isn't even funny anymore. I teach games and I'm trying to move other peoples pieces (super FAIL). I want my daughter to obey THE EXACT WAY I EXPECT....which is ridiculous.
I've been reflecting on 2 Corinthians 12 lately and the passage where Paul has a thorn in his flesh and he asks God multiple times to remove it...and yet God doesn't. Lame!
Ok, here's the passage first. This is in the ESV (English Standard Version):
Paul is talking about his past and the things he has experienced. He talks his visions and then he says, "So, to keep me from being conceited because of the because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.'" Paul's response is the important part today though. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Perspective. That's what God has been showing me lately with this passage. Paul had an opportunity to respond. He could have become angry with God. He could have tried to find a way to fix it on his own. Now, it's true that we don't know what his thorn in the flesh may have been (poor eye site has been suggested as well as many others) so it's very possible that he couldn't have done anything on his own.
BUT....I am different. :o) I'm not Paul of the 1st century. I'm Nate of the 21st century and there is little that man cannot solve! :o( Which sadly reduces our dependence on God which is the point of this passage. Being dependent on God, allowing him to be in control, and then seeing his power work in and through your life. Which doesn't happen when we are so insistent on being in control.
Paul's response, is the opposite though. Instead of being angry or trying to find a way to solve his problem without God, he embraces the truth that allowing God to be in control will actually allow him to do more and do it better than if he was running the show. The same is true for us. If we want to be in control, we are going to get into some real messes. We are going to ruin relationships. We are going to make some big mistakes. The great thing is that those things may very well still happen even with God in control, but the outcome can be so drastically different by allowing God control.
To the control freaks: May you find it in yourself today to allow God to be in control and see the great joy and peace that it can bring you today.
To the non-control freaks: just love us anyway! :o)
I can't tell you how many times I've come back to this control thing. I have such a problem with control that it really isn't even funny anymore. I teach games and I'm trying to move other peoples pieces (super FAIL). I want my daughter to obey THE EXACT WAY I EXPECT....which is ridiculous.
I've been reflecting on 2 Corinthians 12 lately and the passage where Paul has a thorn in his flesh and he asks God multiple times to remove it...and yet God doesn't. Lame!
Ok, here's the passage first. This is in the ESV (English Standard Version):
Paul is talking about his past and the things he has experienced. He talks his visions and then he says, "So, to keep me from being conceited because of the because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.'" Paul's response is the important part today though. "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Perspective. That's what God has been showing me lately with this passage. Paul had an opportunity to respond. He could have become angry with God. He could have tried to find a way to fix it on his own. Now, it's true that we don't know what his thorn in the flesh may have been (poor eye site has been suggested as well as many others) so it's very possible that he couldn't have done anything on his own.
BUT....I am different. :o) I'm not Paul of the 1st century. I'm Nate of the 21st century and there is little that man cannot solve! :o( Which sadly reduces our dependence on God which is the point of this passage. Being dependent on God, allowing him to be in control, and then seeing his power work in and through your life. Which doesn't happen when we are so insistent on being in control.
Paul's response, is the opposite though. Instead of being angry or trying to find a way to solve his problem without God, he embraces the truth that allowing God to be in control will actually allow him to do more and do it better than if he was running the show. The same is true for us. If we want to be in control, we are going to get into some real messes. We are going to ruin relationships. We are going to make some big mistakes. The great thing is that those things may very well still happen even with God in control, but the outcome can be so drastically different by allowing God control.
To the control freaks: May you find it in yourself today to allow God to be in control and see the great joy and peace that it can bring you today.
To the non-control freaks: just love us anyway! :o)
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