Will-ingly

You have the opportunity to be crucified with Christ but no one can force you into this.    It requires an act of the will and the will is never taken from you by force.  Just as the spirit is unsinkable and eternal so is the will.  The will can be broken and it can be corrupted but it will never be stripped from you.  Satan can touch your will but only as it continues to be yours.  You can surrender your will but that is solely your determination.  One can be born again yet fiercely cling to the will and not let go of it.  The Holy Scripture is God's plumb line for evaluating the identity of the possessor of the will.  If I keep my will, then the Bible will be a stern taskmaster that confronts me at every turn.  I will fight over who I should forgive, how often I will let my cheek be struck by good and bad people stew over what I give away and the degree to which I will pray about everything with the consequence of fretting about nothing.  If I am crucified with Christ, then my will is in His possession and His to defend and honor.   It makes no difference to the one whose will is God's if he lives in poverty or riches, is recognized for his accomplishments or not, has made something of his life or lost the opportunity that was at hand.  The will that has been turned over to Christ cannot fret over tomorrow because it has no power over him.  What does tomorrow matter to the one who given over the will to the one controlling tomorrow.  The last bastion of idolatry is the will.  Jesus was able to steadfastly go to Jerusalem where a cross awaited Him because He settled the matter of the will…"not my will but your will be done."  All internal strife, depression and bitterness can be crucified at the point the will becomes the possession of Christ's and is not taken back from Him.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.    John 6:38 NIV

Fret Master

Whenever we feel restless and perturbed, our natural tendency is to look outside

ourselves.  It is the crisis we are facing, the marriage that isn't well, the problems with the kids, the neighbor, the co-worker, the bills; the stuff all about us that has damaged our temperament.  God never gave the externals that sort of credit.  He always said it was a heart issue.  If the heart is right with God, the externals will work themselves out in due time.  Our Lord was never fussy, never upset with His circumstances.  He let the Father have His way with all He faced and did not worry about how things would turn.  Christ was so completely settled with the goodness of God that He could not lose Himself on what was happening all about Him.   Our Lord told us not to fret for good reason.  It is rebellion against God to worry.  Whoever rules the heart rules the soul and if the heart is a churning pot of frustration and fretfulness, then God has been pushed aside from where He is needed most.  Worry is the most demanding god of all, a raging whirlwind of do this and do that, stop this and start that.  Who can live with such a monster as the ruling warlord!  If Christ has conquered Sin in you, then the heart must admit Him as King and worry cast out of her.  You have to do this yourself though.  God is not going to do it for you.  With the little bit of faith you can muster, turn over that one great worry and let God have it.  Take a single worry at a time and give it to your Savior.  Name it clearly so you are certain you have handed it to Him and then give Christ time to work the fret out of your heart.  His rightful place is as King within you and if He is not Lord there, all the angels in heaven cannot help you with what troubles stand before you.  What good would it be for the Lord to heal the blind man if he never opens his eyes to see?  If worry is the master of your heart, even a perfect life without a trouble in the world is a train wreck for you.

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.   1 Peter 5:7 NIV

Fretting For What?

It is never the crisis that unsettles us but rather the deviation away from Christ.  We are so infatuated by how things will turn that we forget just how perfectly Christ is fitting Himself into us.  When the Lord reminded us not to worry about what we would eat or wear, do we think that was all there was to His point?  Jesus was not unsettled by criticism or temptation, by poverty or that frustrating co-worker.  He simply was not rattled and that is what God wants for us too and has for us.  This is possible not because we become skilled at scaling back our responsibilities or cutting out negative relationships; this is our personality in Christ.  The Lord does not want us to imitate Jesus but rather for Him to live in us.  As we give sway to Christ at every instance, we find the mind and emotions of God coming out of us in all sorts of exciting and surprising ways.  God did not die for us to just take away our punishment for sin; He died that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  That life is not a life of fretting, stewing or striving.  The life God died to give us is one with the Lord Jesus Christ living fully through us.  Each turn we take is an opportunity for the wisdom and love of Christ to manifest itself in what we do and how we think about all we encounter.  Lust, selfishness and pride are the archaic remnants of a dying breed.  The new man is being established as us: Christ joined to me, Christ joined to you in a dynamic synthesis that will be perfect.  As you read the Bible, don't look for ways to make something of your life; look for Christ to live fully and happily in and through you as He works out your day moment by moment.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.  Colossians 3:3 NIV