Control

Why do we insist on making this business of following Jesus so cleverly packaged; all nice and neat, the loose ends all wrapped together and tied into a beautiful bow on top? Have you read the Bible lately?! What a mess! Murder, sex, deceit-and these were the ones the God used to further His purposes, the Big Names, if you will.

How do we get to the place where we say that this is the way or that is how that will happen or God is going to work like this? I think it is because we are ill at ease with the mystery that is God; we can't control it.

So much time and effort is spent trying to make sure that we have, as one of my youth group kids used to say, our "poop in a group". Somehow if everything is lined up, we feel like we are in control a bit more. It's a lie that we buy quickly and keep going back for more.

At what point in a person's journey with Jesus do we expect Him to say, "You know, you pretty much have this whole life thing figured out, your resume looks good, your children are behaving themselves, you haven't really sinned (I mean the big sins, not just the little ones) for a good while. I'm just going to go check on a few others who are really struggling and leave you in your very own capable hands for a little while. If you need me, and I doubt you will, you know where to find me."

I am not saying that we should let all of our ugliness be on display all the time. It just seems that we would all do well to learn a little humility before God and be ok with saying "I'm not exactly sure but I am trusting that God is in control, He sees the end from the beginning and He will never leave me nor forsake me."