What Would You Change?
May 21, 2000
Dear Friends:
This week I would like to pose to you a hypothetical question. The question is: if God would allow you power to change anything you wanted for one day, what would you change? This is not a rhetorical question. Go ahead and take the time to answer. I’ll wait…………
OK, what did you come up with? Many times when I ask this question, I get responses such as “I would make the Kingdom come today” or “I would get rid of all illnesses in the world.” No one has actually said this out loud, but maybe a few have pondered less spiritual thoughts. Maybe some take the “genie in the bottle” approach and say to themselves “I would become the richest person in the world.”
I would suggest to you that there really is a correct answer, Biblically speaking, to this question. The correct answer is “I wouldn’t change anything.”
We believe God is all knowing and all powerful. We believe that God has a plan which will ultimately result in the Kingdom of God on earth. We believe God is love and good. If we believe these things, we have to conclude if something should be changed, He would do it. If these things are true, it is presumptuous for us to change anything.
When we supply an answer with anything other than “I would change nothing”, we become a fanatic. A definition I once heard of a fanatic is someone who does what God would do if He had all of the facts. Why do we think we know better than God?
Now when we take beyond the hypothetical question level to the practical level, what are the ramifications on a daily basis? First, when approaching God in prayer, we should not be so presumptuous as to provide Him with solutions to our problems. Do we find ourselves constantly telling God that he should do this or that?
When we take matters into our own hands because we feel that God cannot change a particular situation, perhaps we can be guilty of presumption. What about the “end justifying the means” in ecclesial matters? Do we think that if we don’t take this action, no matter how counter it is to what we read in Scripture, that God cannot bring about a solution? Is it because that we really aren’t convinced that God can solve the problem?
What about worry? Would we worry if we really believed with all of our heart that God was in control and His will was being done? “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matt. 6:34)
How much better would we sleep at night if we were 100% convicted that God was in complete control and that “all things work together for good to them that love God”? If we lived knowing that His will was being done, no matter how contrary His will was to ours, we could not help but be more peaceful and content in our lives.
I will leave you with this quote from Genesis 18 which we should all ask ourselves. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Have a great week in our Lord’s service,
Comments»
No comments yet.