The other day my friend and I stayed home because we were sick. As we were sitting in the living room, a bird flew in and perched itself upon the window sill. We opened the windows and doors for it to fly out, but it was just staring at us and not moving, yet the exit was right in front of its eyes.
Jesus asks us to trust Him with our lives. He asks us to pick up our crosses and follow Him no matter the risk. For us humans this doesn’t sound all too inviting. Our world is run by power and self seeking achievements, so the thought of letting someone else run our lives isn’t appealing whatsoever. We have a problem with giving Him all the control because we can’t see all that He’s going to do. Just like that bird, Jesus and His will for us is right in front of us, but we would rather say no and do it on our own because we think we can control the outcome. There is this part of us that thinks if we do it on our own then we can control the hurt, failures, sadness, and even the joys in our lives. I don’t know about you but when I was living a life without Jesus in control it sucked and wasn’t remotely fulfilling. Everything I tried doing on my own never worked out in my favor.
Here’s a little secret..God, creator of the universe, knows the desires of our hearts more than we know our own. It says in Genesis, “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” If this is to be true then why do we keep diminishing the power of God? Why do we keep not believing who He is? Why are we so afraid to take that first step in trusting Him? I will always remember this specific conversation I had with my grandma about following Jesus and the kind of life you get from it. I’ll never forget what she told me. She said that she lives a life for Jesus, because at the end of her life she can look back at it and say she lived a life that was fulfilling and purposeful. Then I asked her, “What if it’s all a hoax and there is no God or heaven?” She said, “Well I have two possible outcomes. I either lived a life with abundant joy, purpose, and fulfillment and get to continue that with Jesus in heaven, or I just lived a really good life. At the end of the day, neither option is bad, so why not believe in Jesus.” That conversation changed my whole perspective towards Jesus. He knows us through and through and that is why having a life with Him in control is rewarding and so joyful.
