Touchy Touchy

(Reprint From June 2009)

I Thessalonians 1:4
Knowing, beloved, your election by God.

We tread dangerous ground today. Well, it's dangerous only if we make it that way. "What," you may ask? Why the "E" word. Election.
Also tied to the "P" word.....predestination. I want to throw those two words aside because they actually point to a greater word. Sovereignty. As in the sovereignty of God.
Websters Dictionary defines sovereignty as supremely powerful / possessing absolute authority within a given sphere/ Superior to all rivals. 
That would define who we think God is, but not really what God does. We have trouble believing in a God that truly is sovereign and rules according to his wishes and plans especially when it comes to intervening in our daily lives. We have no trouble in believing God orchestrates the natural world around us. But we have great difficulty grasping the fact that God indeeds rules our very lives. Why do we have trouble? Because we want to be the measure and last voice that decides what is fair and what isn't. We have no trouble running to God when things don't go our way but when life totally collapses on top of us, we blame God and become angry and spiteful toward Him.

How sovereign is God? Let's take a look.
I didn't ask to be born.
I didn't ask to be born a male.
I didn't ask to be born to the family I was born into.
I didn't ask for the parents I had.
Yet, God was sovereign over it all. He chose. He placed. He gave. He leads and continues to do so on a daily basis and my only task. The only thing He expects from me is to obey. That's it. Obey.

I spent the evening last night with a young man who is very angry.
He is angry at people who have wronged him.
He is angry because he is getting ready to re-enter society and he feels like he doesn't have everything he needs to be successful.
He is angry because he chooses not to forgive others.
He asked me, "What do I do Brother Mike?" It wasn't what he wanted to hear but I looked at him and said, "Obey."
Our sin have made us little "gods". We want only the blessing of God and not the rule of God. Not the expectations that He has for us. That would crimp our style and put a damper on our fun.
We want to be the sovereign ruler of our life. Well let me ask you one question. "How has that been working out for you?" Not to good, huh.
Obeying God is too simple a plan for some. It doesn't fit into their lives or hearts. There has to be something else. No, there isn't anything else. God is sovereign. He has lead all of us to this point in time, June 28,2009 and today our choices will reflect whether we truly believe that God is sovereign or that we deny this fact.

Our churches are filled with people that unconsciously believe that somehow God works for them. Or that they are God's special project and that God's job is to keep them happy, keep them from harm and keep them from losing their lifestyle. What a bunch of bunk.
God is God in spite of what I do or do not have.
The plans of God do not come to a grinding halt because my 42 inch plasma flat screen television went on the fritz.
We would do well to understand exactly who we have been called to worship.
This is not the God of the Sunday School flannel board.
He is the Lord God Jehovah. Creator and ruler of all we can see, touch, taste, smell and hear.
Yet within all that He is, His heart is to have relationship with us.

Hebrews 1:10-12
You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth
And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
They will perish, but You remain;
And they will all grow old like a garment,
like a cloak You will fold them up,
and they will be changed.
But you are the same, and Your years will not fail.

God on you....
mb