Waiting On The World To Change
Imagine for a minute that you were in charge…in charge of “things”. Whatever. Your household. Your classroom. Your entire school. The United States of America! Seriously, imagine that you are in charge. What’s one of your first thoughts? If I start thinking about things in this way I usually start off by thinking how I would change things, how I would make things better. It usually starts off in my head with a thought like, “…if only I was in charge, things would be different. Instead of how it is now, it would be…” and then I could trail off into how life would look.
It isn’t uncommon to think this way. No matter your age you are no doubt aware of the upcoming Presidential election. We’re already seeing the candidates all over the place, telling us that if they were in charge, this is how things would look. Each and every one of them assures us that if we just have the courage to elect them, life will be good. No, not just good…great! Life will be great if they are in charge. Things are going to change. And so you wait. You sit and wait for things to change, for things to get better. You also wait until the day that you are in charge, because from that day forward, things are going to get look different…
Problem: that isn’t the approach that God tells us to take. Well, not entirely. It’s missing a step. You see, God does want each and every one of us to change the world, but with one important thing that must happen first. You have to give up being in charge.
Yikes.
That really sucks, doesn’t it? I mean, you’ve been waiting your whole life to be in charge! Everybody you know is telling you how you can become a better person so that you can take control of situations, so that you can be the boss of the company, so that you can be class president. You are constantly being told how to get ahead, whether it is through the best possible grades or by getting a summer job. It all comes down to you…or so we are told.
God takes a different approach. Why? Well, he’s the one that is in charge. He’s the boss. He calls the shots. But he’s about the best boss you’ll ever have, because instead of Him cramming stuff down your throat, he lets you decide whether or not you want to let Him be the boss. We know already that we want to be in charge of ourselves and do whatever we want (see that Romans verse back in day 2), so now we have to decide that we aren’t doing a very good job with ourselves. We have to let God know that he is in charge, and we’re okay with that.
Yikes again.
Here is the cool part: when you do get around to letting God call the shots, he will tweak the way you see things just a little, and he will actually help you to make changes, the changes that you have always wanted to make. Not because you are in charge, but because He is! This tweaking (or change or transformation or whatever you want to call it) is pretty cool. Read this story:
Genesis 32:22-28 (New International Version)
Jacob Wrestles With God
22 That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. 23 After he had sent them across the stream, he sent over all his possessions. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob's hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak."
But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."
27 The man asked him, "What is your name?"
"Jacob," he answered.
28 Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, [a] because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome."
Jacob wrestled with God, and God tweaked him forever. He changed his name, and he changed the way he walks. Change isn’t a bad thing, especially when you have been waiting for it for so long. Here is the good part though, so pay attention: even though God changed several things about Jacob, he still used the person that Jacob was (stubborn, among other things…who in the heck challenges God to a wrestling match?) to change the world. He used Jacob and all of his crookedness to make the world a better place.
This is what God wants from you. He wants you confused and geeked out and introverted and goofy and obnoxious and shy…he wants all of those things, every crooked inch of you…but he wants you to let Him be in charge. Why? He loves us, and he wants our lives to be full of joy. When you wrestle with this concept, letting God be in charge, and you let Him win the wrestling match, things change. Tomorrow we’ll talk about what God will give us when all of this happens.
Questions for Group Discussion
- If you were the President of The United States, what things would you change right away?
- What is happening in your life right now that you wish you could change? Do you feel powerless to make the change yourself? What can you do to start fixing it?
- What are some of your best character traits? Some of your worst?
- Have you ever wanted to change your name? Change schools? Change families? Move to another country?
- Read 2 Corinthians 3:18. What do you think it means to be “transformed into his likeness”? What are some things that you can do to work toward this?
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