letting go

by now most of are well into our resolutions for the year, or we have completely thrown them by the waste side. i normally don't do resolutions because i know that i won't complete them and i will fail. this year though i decided i needed to let go of my idols and try to learn about letting go. this is not going to be a one year process, this is going to be many years in the making. i have made the choice to let these idols go. LORD HELP ME and HE will.

two things happened yesterday; one a bible lesson, the other a sermon. one was on GOD's principles and the other about sovereignty. both are the same. GOD's laws are the laws of the world and HE is in complete control of the world. i'm not saying this is easy, because we have actual human nature to deal with. all throughout the bible you see individuals and societies that have fallen from HIS rules, and then you get to see the individual that is brave enough to bring GOD back to them.

the sin of being in control of our life has got to be the hardest sin to let go of. we are not GOD's equal. we will never be HIS equal. so why would we try to be; pride, selfishness, righteousness. last week i heard a story about an alcoholic. he decided to stop drinking. he didn't go to rehab, he just stopped. for over 3 years he fought the urge to drink and he overcame it. what if we looked at addictions this way? what if it wasn't really addiction? what if it was just our choice to continue the addiction? it is my choice to continue to hold onto things; no one else's.

i have sins that i committed years ago that still haunt me; i haven't let them go. sin has consequence. not only does it affect you, but it affects others around you. when we carry a past sin; it becomes an even bigger sin. when we can't let it go and cast it onto HIM then we are still sinning. sooner or later i have to give them up in my journey, or i will never be truly HIS. all of us have it with something; all of us. to think that we don't is the sin. being humble enough to admit that you carry it is a bigger step to letting HIM in to take control.

if i talk about GOD's principles to my children, but don't reflect that in my everyday life then i'm teaching them a lie. if you read scripture and it tells you how to live a christian life then why aren't we living it. if we fail and we don't seek forgiveness from HIM first and then the one we have wronged then we are too prideful. not only are we prideful about ourselves; we are too prideful in thinking that GOD will forgive us.

c.s. lewis described pride as a cancer; it is just that. it spreads and then we can't humble ourselves enough to see what we may have done wrong. this is my year of trying to let go. i have to let go these idols go. i have to rid my life of past hurts, past wrongs, past pride to live by HIS principles and HIS rules. that is HIS love for me.


"pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud. he who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he." proverbs 16:18-20

"do not love the world or the things in the world. if anyone loves the world, the love of the FATHER is not in HIM. for all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the FATHER but is of the world. and the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of GOD abides forever.

"for GOD has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 timothy 1:7

"they profess to know GOD, but in works they deny HIM, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work." titus 1:16