Recently at one of our community group sessions, one of the guys had an idea that he surprised us all with. On the kitchen table, there were a bunch of small gift boxes from the dollar store, pieces of paper and pencils. He told us all to go grab a box and pencil. After picking the least “girly” of the boxes, I sat back in my seat and waited for him to tell us what we were doing.
His instructions were pretty simple. Use the pencil to write something that we need to give to God on a piece of paper, pray about it and then put it in the box. Rinse and repeat as many times as needed until we had whatever we were holding onto that we needed to give to God written down, prayed about and sealed away in that box.
His instructions continued, saying that if we found ourselves worrying about something that we put in the box in the days/weeks to come, that we were to pull it out of the box and continue to pray for the ability to give it over fully to God.
The box was our God box. It simply signified our trust in God and in His love and provision for us.
What we put in our boxes was just between us and God. But those were things that we didn’t submit ourselves into trusting God with. We might have said at one point that we trust that He will handle it, but over time it’s easy to want to take it back and stress and fret over those things all over again.
Last time, we talked about submitting to God and how I know that I struggle with truly submitting. I have certainly pulled things out of my God box and put them back. And then had to take them out again. And put them back, etc.
I don’t mind sharing some of the things in my God box, hoping that it helps someone else. For me, it was finances/bills, my health, my family and my marriage. They are all some of my biggest stressors and fears. Things that I try so hard to fix on my own or at least remain in control of. I try to figure out what’s best for each of those things on my own. I research diet and exercise plans that I think I could actually follow. I research ways to make money outside of my day job. I try to keep as much peace in the home as I can.
But even with all of my efforts, those are things that I still struggle with. They are the things that I just can’t let go of and trust that God has a plan and that things will work out however they are supposed to if I truly give them to Him and do my best to follow where He leads me. I call Jesus my Lord and then act as though I’m in charge in some of the most important parts of my life, exactly the OPPOSITE of what Jesus teaches us.
Does any of that sound familiar? I was pretty surprised when I learned that I wasn’t the only with those particular problems and that I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t let go and truly give them to God. It was kind of liberating knowing that I wasn’t as alone as I had thought.
For some reason, I thought that people who had a strong faith didn’t worry about that kind of stuff. It seemed as though there was just a peace and carefreeness, is that even a word, that “religious people” had. But a lot of that was just a show. People will put on the mask of peace and fight through their problems for a Sunday morning service and not let their pain and fatigue show.
But to know that other people actually felt the same way about things in their life, even though they may not be the same things, kind of humanized following Christ for me. I wasn’t the only one struggling and I shouldn’t feel isolated because I struggled. I could actually show how weary I was and still be accepted.
Jesus tells us “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28-30).
We are “weary and burdened” by the things that we choose to be yoked to. The stress of work, paying bills, kids, life. But Jesus is promising us a respite from all of that. He asked us to “Take up my yoke and learn from me” because of His love for us. The yoke of Christ isn’t filled with stress and anxiousness and fear, it’s filled with peace. But being yoked to Jesus does take work. It takes us putting in an effort to submit to and follow Jesus and everything that He taught. It takes turning the other cheek when we encounter difficult people and situations and being the “bigger person” as the phrase goes.
Jesus doesn’t want to weigh us down with the things that don’t truly matter. He was speaking to 1st century Jews who were trying to live by Mosaic Law. But over time, the pharisees and religious leaders had added thousands of man made laws that they would have to follow. Those laws were burdensome for people to try to follow and they were made to feel like they weren’t worth much in the eyes of God if they couldn’t follow everything little thing. But Jesus came to show His people that following Him was so much easier than they had made it. He simply wanted them to submit, follow Him and show love to one another.
So Jesus is calling me to submit and let go of my burdens. He’s calling me to let Him take that yoke from me and trade me a yoke that is much more appropriate for the life that He is calling me to. Like many things in the Gospel, it sounds so easy. But the fallen human part of me wants to complicate it and make it more difficult by trying to remain in control.
And there’s the cycle that I tend to get stuck in. I want desperately to submit to Jesus and follow Him, but I want to feel like I’m in control. Being in control is the exact opposite of what Jesus asks of us. God is in control and we have to accept that and allow His control into our lives. We have to realize that King Jesus is on the throne and He knows what’s best for us. And what’s best for us, often times, isn’t necessarily anything close to what we think it is. What’s best for us is to allow God’s plan for our lives to work and come to fruition instead of fighting Him every step of the way by wanting to be in control of our lives.
Much of our faith as Christ followers requires us to know that we are fallen and broken. We are not what God had initially intended for us. Sin has allowed us to distance ourselves from God. Sin has kept us from “walking in the Garden with God” and forced us into a position where we have to seek out His will. Seek out being a verb, as in an action. We must take action to find and follow the will of God for our lives. If we are seeking out God’s will, that means that we are surrendering ourselves to Him and what He desires for us instead of holding onto that control that we so desperately desire to have.
The struggle is real my friends. The fallen and broken human part of me, the part that is of this world, wants to be selfish and in control. It wants me to rely on myself and not put my trust in God. That is the part of me that is slave to sin and the enemy. The part of me that seeks after God knows what I have to do to surrender myself, but often that voice is a quiet whisper, easily lost in the whirlwinds of daily life. And that is often how God speaks to us, a gentle whisper.
In our hearts, really deep in our hearts, we know the truth. We know what is right and what the right path is. When we lose our way and get lost in the world, there is an emptiness inside of us. An emptiness that leads to searching the world for a respite through drug and alcohol addictions, sex, gambling and all sorts of things that lead us even further down that lost highway toward our eternal demise. But when we listen to that gentle whisper, when we take the time and energy to seek God, there is a wholeness that we experience. That wholeness may not fix everything all at once, but the more that we surrender and allow God to care for us, allow God to lead us, allow God to give us that respite that we need, we walk closer to Him on our journey through faith.
Surrendering to God may seem like an admission of not being enough, but it’s actually one of the best things that you can do for your life. Admitting that you can’t live this life on your own anymore is a step towards the humble heart that He can fill with His wisdom, knowledge and peace.
What would you put in your God box? What can you allow God to take off of your shoulders today? He’s strong enough to handle it and He wants to. He wants to trade your yoke for a yoke that will be much easier on you, you just have to be willing to give up the one that you’ve been lugging around your whole life.
Journey Through Faith 