Topic: Don't Be So Controlling - [Saturday, 21 March 2015]
'Love...does not demand its own way...' 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NLT
Some kids at a summer camp were discussing creation, and one asked, ‘If everything has a purpose, how come God made poison ivy?’ Another replied, ‘Because He knows there are some things we should keep our hands off!’ But keeping your hands off things isn’t easy when you’re insecure and controlling by nature. The Bible says, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they will become one flesh.’ (Genesis 2:24 NAS) Notice the word ‘become’.
Leaving is the easy part; becoming is the hard part. It takes love, patience, kindness, and hard work. Jesus said, ‘…Stop allowing yourselves to be…unsettled.’ (John 14:27 AMP) If you’re ‘allowing’, you’re doing it to yourself! Learn to ‘let go’ and work on developing the fruits of the Spirit in your own life. Letting go doesn’t mean you don’t care; it just means allowing others to learn in their own way and through their own experiences.
It calls for focusing on Jesus rather than obsessing on the other person’s behaviour. ‘You will keep in perfect peace…all whose thoughts are fixed on You!’ (Isaiah 26:3 NLT) Fix your thoughts on God, not on others. Letting go means caring about, instead of care–taking. It means stepping out of the middle and not trying to influence the outcome by fixing, judging, nagging, scolding, arguing, criticising and regulating. It’s about facing each day with God’s help and cherishing each moment. It’s about realising the only person you can ‘change’ is yourself. It’s about fearing less and trusting more. And it’s the only way to be happy.
SoulFood: Hos 6-10, Luke 19:41-20:8, Ps 13, Prov 8:14-16
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