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Worship: The Barrier of Pride
by Rick Warren
It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our
qualification comes from God. 2 Corinthians 3:5 (NLT)
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Life is a struggle, but what most people don't realize is that our struggle,
like Jacob's in Genesis 32:22-32, is really with God! We want to be God, and
there's no way we're going to win that struggle, but we try anyway.
A.W. Tozer said, "The reason why many are still troubled, still seeking,
still making little forward progress is because they haven't yet come to the
end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders, and interfering with
God's work within us."
We aren't God, and we never will be. We're humans, and the times when we try
to be God are the times we end up most like Satan, who tried to be equal
with God, too.
We accept our humanity intellectually, but not emotionally. We give mental
assent to the idea, but when faced with our own limitations, we react with
irritation, anger, and resentment. We want to be taller (or shorter),
smarter, stronger, more talented, beautiful, and wealthy.
We want to have it all and do it all, and become upset when it doesn't
happen. Then, when we notice God gave others characteristics we don't have,
we respond with envy, jealousy, and self-pity.
*What it means to surrender. *Surrendering to God is not passive
resignation, fatalism, or an excuse for laziness. It is not accepting the
status quo. It may mean the exact opposite: sacrificing your life in
resistance to evil and injustice, or suffering in order to change what needs
to be changed. God often calls surrendered people to do battle on his
behalf. It's not for cowards or doormats.
Surrendering is not putting your brain in neutral and giving up rational
thinking. God would not waste the mind he gave you! God does not want robots
to serve him. Surrendering is not repressing your personality. God wants to
use your unique personality. Rather than being diminished, surrendering
enhances your uniqueness.
C. S. Lewis observed, "The more we let God take us over, the more truly
ourselves we become – because he made us.He invented all the different
people that you and I were intended to be. It is when I turn to Christ, when
I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real
personality of my own."
(c) 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
.
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'Unless you change what you do, you will always have what you've got.'
- Jim Rohn
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