You Make or Break You
God is not in control. He is not sitting on His throne with a remote control or puppet strings determining which way we turn, what we say, what we do, where we do it, etc. He isn’t a slave master. He isn’t a dictator. Psalm 115:16 writes, “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.” The book of Genesis records the Lord handing over dominion of the earth to mankind. (Genesis 1:26) He always intended and planned a hope and a future for mankind. (Jeremiah 29:11) He never wanted anything else. From the beginning, He also gave mankind direction on how to walk and live in that plan of blessing. Yes, dominion of the earth belonged to man, but man gave it over to Satan, as recorded in Genesis 3.
Later in scripture we see, when the devil came to tempt Jesus he didn’t lie when he said the kingdoms of the world were his. Matthew 4:9, “And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.'” The devil’s hands are all over this fallen world. We need to stop blaming God for our bad decisions. We need to stop using sovereignty as an excuse for tragedy and tribulation and start recognizing Who God really is in the situation and the part we have to play. In our churches, we’ve often heard this said: there are three parts to every service; there’s God’s part, there’s the minister’s part, and then there’s our part. Well, this doesn’t just apply to a church service. In this life here on earth for a Christian, there’s God’s part. God created us, God gave everything to us, and despite our failure, He forgave us. God sent His Word. God sent Jesus. God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us from the inside! He has done His part, and done His part well. Then there’s the minister’s part. God gave gifts onto men to help teach us, guide us, and unfold the Word of God to us. (Ephesians 4:8) You can’t blame your decisions on God, or the minister if you don’t show up to allow those gifts to work in your life. You will be responsible if you aren’t living the life spelled out in the Word if you won’t find a local church that will teach you the promises and the whole Gospel, uncompromisingly. Then, finally, there’s our part. We must be doers of the Word for the Word to work. We must take control and the authority we were given and stop giving the devil so much leeway!
People use this scripture out of context all the time: Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” See, God has a plan in everything. It’s all good. Everything happens for a reason. We just accept it and live with it. But John 14:15 lets us know that love isn’t just a feeling of fondness for God. It says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” So when we interpret scripture based on other scripture, we see that Romans 8:28 is letting us know that when we are doers of the Word of God, all things will work together for our good, whether it appears that way based on circumstance or not. See, God does not control what we do. God does not choose which way we go. But, when we choose to go His way, He will bring us through!
I love what Lester Sumrall, a faithful minister of the gospel for over 60 years, said, “You make decisions and decisions make you.” We decide. We choose. We go or we don’t. We say or we don’t. We succeed or we fail. God never fails. To say God is in control negates any responsibility we have and puts the ball in God’s court, so to speak. But that’s foolishness, to blame God for the devil’s handiwork or the results of our actions taking on the resemblance of the world instead of the resemblance of the Word. Let’s make good decisions, God’s way. Let’s let those decisions make our paths straight. Let’s let those decisions make our blessing sure, our cups running over, our bodies whole and well. Let’s live the God life, the blessed life He intended.
Be Blessed,
Pastor Renée
If you’ve been reading our weekly Faith Fix devotional, stop in and join us at Family Church Mayville for a service, Sunday mornings at 10:30 or Sunday night’s at 7. We’d love to meet you!
