In the years AFTER I gave my life to Christ and BEFORE my complete surrender, “I’ll get around to it” was one of my favorite excuses for putting off the day I would fully RELEASE CONTROL of my life to Christ.
Maybe that’s YOU today.
It’s dangerous to put off releasing control to God and assume that responsibility ourselves. It produces extreme pressure to make sure “everything works out” according to our plan.
Playing that “Boss Role” forces us into a “life-management system” with two tracks: 1) The FUTURE TRAP of viewing everything in terms of what’s ahead to beat back the pain of what’s behind; and 2) The PERFECTION CHASE for tomorrow to overcome the imperfections of today.
THE FUTURE TRAP
God wants us to enjoy our life NOW, not someday down the road. I call it the “I’ll be happy when…” delusion: I’ll be happy WHEN I go on vacation…get a new house…get a new car…get to retirement.
I was blessed to leave that thinking behind and move forward with a new inspiration that can be summed up in one sentence that God used to transform my walk with Christ:
Subordinate your EXPECTATIONS of what you want and, instead, concentrate on being EXPECTANT of what God will do in your life.
The ONLY way to reach that goal is to RELEASE CONTROL to God.
THE PERFECTION CHASE
In addition to a “future fixation,” putting off RELEASING CONTROL of our life to God will push us to chase perfection. I know because that is exactly what happened to me early in my faith walk. And then God confronted me with this powerful claim by the Apostle Paul:
“I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.” Philippians 3:12
Paul is making it crystal clear that his life is a work-in-progress.
Instead of claiming to be perfect now, Paul continues to pursue becoming more like Christ. But he knows that is impossible without fully releasing control to God.
That’s why I ditched PERFECTION for a WORK-IN-PROGRESS.
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Are you living for the FUTURE today? Striving for PERFECTION? What one thing can you do THIS WEEK to break that pattern and fully RELEASE CONTROL of your life to God?
I ask God to give me the strength to push back when I’m tempted to take control and live for the future and strive for perfection. To help me back to him when that happens so I can re-commit to fully release control of my life to God.
“I do not claim that I have already succeeded or have already become perfect. I keep striving to win the prize for which Christ Jesus has already won me to himself.” Philippians 3:12
