Transformational Thought
I have three daughters, and they are great kids … I wouldn’t trade them for anything. They are very responsible and good with each other. When my wife and I went out on a date while they were younger, we would leave them in charge to babysit in this order … the 13 year old babysat herself and her 11-year-old sister; the 11 year old babysat herself and her 6-year-old sister, and the 6 year old babysat herself and our dog, Duke. The determining factor when we granted them their wish to be left home “on their own” was, “whose rules will you use to manage yourselves and those you are in charge of … ours or yours?”
If they were able to be an extension of us, their parents, and be a caretaker of our rules, wishes, and authority, then we left them alone. If they were going to be their own kings (queens in this case), assume authority by overthrowing the existing regime (the parents or their older sisters), and rule based on their own whims, desires, and standards, then they weren’t allowed to be on their own.
God created us to be His extension, the caretaker of His authority in all areas of creation. You see, God created everything. Like any good inventor or creator, He gave us an instruction manual. The Holy Bible helps us get the most out of the gift of life He has given us. The most important part of our caretaking role is protecting His standards and guidelines in our own lives. We need to apply the instruction manual, trusting He actually made us, knows us, and knows life management better than we do. Struggles like insecurity, worry, depression, bitterness, fear, loneliness, and addiction, happen when we rebel against His authority and place ourselves as the all-knowing, all-powerful rulers of our own little universe.
Unfortunately, we often deviate from God’s instruction manual and use the instruction manual we haphazardly and shortsightedly slap together. When we use our ineffective, incomplete, warped standards for self-protection or self-promotion, we actually bring on our own self-destruction. Satan does a great job hiding this blatant cause-and-effect principle from us. So, we continue ruling on our own, blaming others for the mess, unaware that we are the cause of our daily debilitating, self-destructive consequences.
Today, as you experience unrest, stop and ask yourself, “Whose authority, rules, or instruction manual am I using in this situation? In whose authority do I really trust?” God designed us to be caretakers of His authority, not kings who rest in our own authority developing our own little kingdoms. Whether you select God as king of your life and world or you overthrow God and promote yourself as king of your world is your decision, so choose well.
Prayer
Dear Father, You are the most loving, powerful, and sovereign king ever. Thanks for sacrificing Your son to die for me, a rebellious subject, who often overthrows Your rule in my life. I know when my flesh is on the throne, I reap the fruit of the flesh, which is a desperate and lonely place. I will do anything to avoid going there again. Please help me be open to Your way. Open my mind to Your wisdom and the guidance You have for me to develop the Mind of Christ. I pray in the name of the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, and all God’s children say – AMEN!
The Truth
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21
And the LORD said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 1 Samuel 8:7-9
