What Are You Holding Onto Tighter Than God?
Don't hold onto anything so tightly that Jesus can't take it from you. Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.
- Corrie ten Boom
I think often we hold onto THINGS tighter than we hold onto our FAITH in God!
Stop! Read it again.
Are you holding onto God more than anything else in your life? If not, why not? We are all guilty from time to time. I don’t even think it has to be material possessions that we are clinging to, but maybe it is. Here in the US, the American dream and the perpetuation of the stereotype is constantly fed into our souls through TV, social media and constant advertising. What have you seen today that seemed like it would solve the latest struggle you face? We all know that it won’t. If it did, we would all look like supermodels and have too much money! We know our true hope and peace is ONLY found in Jesus. Are we as excited to get more of him as we are to receive our next Amazon package? Sorry, that one might have hit too close to home this holiday season.
Often I don’t think it is “stuff” we are seeking after, but maybe more the ideal of what we desperately wish our life looked like. We are busy aspiring to everyone else’s highlight real or Pinterest perfect holiday. Nobody posts the hurts and disappointments for fear they would look pathetic. What does your ideal look like? The perfect holiday family gathering. The fairytale happy marriage. The warm, fuzzy relationship with your teenage / adult children or parents. Toddlers that don’t throw fits. The picture perfect home with all the holiday decorations.
We hold onto these fantasy ideals of what we think everyone else is experiencing.... everyone except us.
We chase after these pictures of perfection and do everything within our power to contribute to our vision becoming reality. Let me let you in on a little secret, it is called a highlight real for a reason. You didn’t get a glimpse of all the crazy it took to get that one snapshot that “appears” to be perfection. Let go of holding so tightly to what we think our holidays, relationships or future should look like and just trust God. What if we actually SURRENDERED what WE think we need to be happy and believe God has a better plan for us? Why in the world are we striving after our own vision instead of trusting the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE with what would ACTUALLY be best for us?
Colossians 3:2
Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
I won’t lie it has been a hard road, but surrender has been a huge blessing in my life. Click here to see my short testimonial video. Trusting that God will handle things how he sees fit is a lesson that I wish I could have learned sooner and jump to faster, but I’m still a work in progress as we all are. There are currently family relationships in my life that break my heart, but I have surrendered them to God. I will trust that he is going to make good of the situation. Maybe he is strengthening me, maybe he is teaching them and maybe it will be years of distance that I wish didn’t exist. I don’t know. I don’t always know what it is I should be doing. I try to remember that I am to love like Jesus loves regardless of whether I receive that love in return. That is hard and heart breaking, but God is bigger. I could have been swallowed by pity and camped out there for the rest of my days, but I am not going to hold onto what I cannot control. I choose to surrender it; hold on tighter to God and trust that he has purpose in it and I will pray into this every time my emotions try to get the better of me. I pray for their salvation and I pray that bitterness doesn’t enter my heart. These are things I hold onto tight. I do not choose HURT, but HOPE. I believe God is doing a work in each and every situation. I don’t have to understand every aspect of it, I just have to trust in God’s plan.
Hebrews 10:23
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
This can be applied to any disappointment or ideal that hasn’t been realized in our life. If the political landscape has been overwhelming to you, you can trust that God has everything under control. God will use whoever ends up in every office for his purposes. None of this surprises him and don’t you worry he has it ALL under control, despite what the media would have you believe. WE CAN TRUST HIM when we can’t trust much of anything else. In EVERY area of your life, this is true. Work environment. True. If God has taken a job from you, trust he will provide a better one. If the workplace is stressful, trust he is strenghtening you. Friendships. True. If he has severed a friendship, trust he is protecting you from that influence that perhaps you weren’t strong enough to stand up against on your own. Finances. True. God will provide. I have lived this. Trust in God’s provision. Fill in the blank…… TRUE!
Last, but not least, what is of the world is NOT of God and should NOT be our focus. There are so many things of this world to get caught up in or believe that we have control over. WE DON’T. GOD DOES. Period. Focus on eternal priorities, let go of what seems like a crisis here on Earth. Surrender once and for all. Surrender EVERYTHING. God’s peace and plan are better than anything we can cook up, of that I can assure you. It doesn’t mean that every day is going to be peaches and cream, but it will be more amazing than anything we ever imagined. Hold on tight to our Father God.
1 John 2: 15-17
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
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