Yesterday I spoke how men act congruent with Adam when they see themselves as the victim. After disobeying God, Adam was guilty of leveraging accusations against God for giving him the woman, and against Eve for disobeying God. As a result, Adam was seeing himself as a victim of circumstance, a victim of things occurring outside of his control.
As I look at our country's landscape, I see this same dynamic running rampantly and rabidly affecting both men and women. The President is to blame for our economic mess, Congress is to blame, the Republicans, the Democrates, the CEO's, Wall Street, Banks, etc. I have yet to hear anyone admit that they contribute to the economic problems because they live outside their means.
Are we all victims of our economic situation or any other trying circumstance? If we truly are, then what does this say about God's sovereignty? If we are simply victims, then either God is not completely in control, or God simply wants to victimize us.
Yet, we affirm that God is in complete control and is a good and benevolent God. Since this is true, how are we to respond to the trials of life? How are we to respond when we feel out of control?
Instead of acting like a bunch of little Adams, we can act like Christ. Instead of leveraging accusations against those around us, we can be lifting up adulation and praise to God for being in control, for still being good and for allowing our life's circumstances to circumcise our heart and make us more like Christ.
Can you and I take our accusations and turn them into adulation? Can we praise God instead of persecuting others? Scripture tells us in Philippians 4:6-8 to take our anxieties to God in prayer, but to do so with thanksgiving and the result is the promise of peace which will guard our hearts and minds. Accusations lead to bondage, but adulation and praise lead to peace. The choice is ours. And the fact that God created us with the ability to make this choice shows us that we are not victims. We can choose to live in bondage and anger or in peace and contentment. But we are not victims, we are more than conquerors in Christ and can live in on-going victory in Christ. This is truly good news in tough times. Peace and contentment lies with Christ changing us, not in Christ changing our circumstances.
Beams Away!
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God tells us that He will not give us more than we can handle so if we find ourselves in deep water, we should not fear, for fear does not come from God, but from our advocacy the devil. Our trial therefore do not come to hurt us but that we should step back take a full account of ourselves and praise our Heavenly Father for His deep love on our behalf to correct us so that we do not miss His ultimate prize of eternal life with Him. Why is it we who required God's love while we were yet sinners, that we frequently arrive a place where we believe we are owed our position and fortunes. It is only because of our position in Christ as our Savior that we have the peace and full grace of God and eternal hope of life with and in Him. So why do we care about the things of this world, even the birds do nothing to exist how much more does God provide for us and love us regardless of our circumstances.
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