Those who think they can do
it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never
get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them
find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self
in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open,
into a spacious, free life. Romans 8.5-7 (MSG)
When
my boys were young, they were fascinated with looking at their muscles in the
bathroom mirror. It usually happened
after bath time. They would stand in front of the mirror, hair slicked back, scrawny
arms flexed, bragging about how big their muscles were. Often, they would use their fingers to push
up their muscles so that they would look bigger than they really were.
Spiritually we do the same thing my boys loved to do. We stand in front of our mirror, flexing our moral muscle as we focus on the good we see in ourselves all the while bragging about our greatness and ignoring how broken and sinful we really are.
We
lose sight of God and become consumed with looking at our own reflection. We would rather stand in front of the mirror
making our own assessments of ourselves than allowing God to point out our
areas of needed growth and change. When
it comes to down to it, we don’t want difficult – we want easy. We don’t want transformation – we want
information. We don’t want God’s Spirit directing
our lives – we want our own way.
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Kay
Warren in her book, Dangerous Surrender,
writes this: I, like many other adults, devote a fair amount of time, energy and
money to controlling, polishing protecting and defending my own private little
kingdom. Like a despotic ruler in
mythical story, I can be the omnipotent potentate, supreme authority,
oppressive dictator, and highly exalted one in the Kingdom of Me. Of course, I
would never say it out loud and might be outraged that anyone would even
suggest that I operate that way, but it’s the reality of the struggle I face
every day. So do you. At my worst, I rule over my domain with an
iron hand, fiercely protecting my territory, my possessions, my reputation, my
persona, my dignity, my rights as queen.
I am in control. As Gary Thomas
observes, “The biggest block to our surrender is not our appetites and wayward
desires but our addiction to running our own lives.
“Focusing
on self is the opposite of focusing on God.
Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God and ends up thinking more
about self than God.” (Romans 8.8 MSG)
We
can’t have it both ways. It’s either God
or us. The question is do we trust God
enough to let Him run our life?
We
all experience insecurity from time to time, some more than others. But what is insecurity?
The
dictionary defines “insecurity” as the lack of confidence or assurance When we are
insecure we move into lock down mode . . . we must protect the kingdom at all cost, we cannot let anyone see our self-doubt, our lack of confidence. Insecurity forces us
to focus on ourselves.
The
only way we will be truly secure is when we seek our value in
God, when we relinquish the Kingdom of Me and embrace the Kingdom of God. When we get off our throne and let God
reign. When we stop looking in the mirror
and start looking at Him.
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