Thursday, July 7, 2011

Surrendering My Agenda

I’ve been reading in Galatians this week as Paul exhorts the Galatian Christians to stop trying to follow the law and instead return to the grace they received when they accepted Jesus. I’ve been using a Bible reading plan found in This Day. Just a couple of days ago, I realized that I have gotten off track and am actually reading Scriptures for some week in June rather than July. It has distressed me greatly, and as I read Galatians this morning, I realized, in my own way, I was living under the law rather than under grace as I beat myself up over reading in the wrong place.

I like order and predictability and rule-following. Paul is certainly speaking to me as he tells the Galatians that they cannot be saved by the law, otherwise it would not have been necessary for Jesus to die. Surrendering myself to Christ means surrendering my affinity for order, predictability and rules—the law in my life.

In the daily message from My Utmost for His Highest earlier this week (I AM in the right place in that book) Oswald Chambers says that when we plan without God, God has “a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made.” When I fail to live by grace and instead try to live by the law (aka my agenda) I can tell because I do become upset when my plans fall through.

It’s a real lesson in trust for me. Do I trust God with my agenda? Can I trust that God does know the plans God has for me (to recall a verse from Jeremiah) and that those plans are for good, actually for my best? It takes a radical reorientation for me to abandon my agenda to God, but I realize that unless and until I do it, I am keeping God’s power and plans for me in a sealed box. I pray for help to release my grasp.

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