Acceptance – 8

Accepting God’s plan for our lives is sometimes the hardest thing we would ever do. The hard part might be trusting that the way God has planned your best is the way you would like your life to take shape. Trusting Him. That can be tough.

The flip side of the difficulty comes in letting go. Not able to see the whole way and yet handing over control. All the while maintaining a right attitude toward God.

Tough. But we were never called to go it alone. God promises to be our help. Multiple times in the Bible He promises this – a few of my favorites include Psalm 46:1 and Hebrews 4:16.

Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” NASB

Hebrews 4:16 “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” NLT

Please read our text: Romans 12:1-21, 13:1-2, Daniel 2:21, Job 12:9-16

We will go through it bit by bit, and will likely take a few sessions to go over it all.

Let’s zoom in on Romans 12:1.

Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” NKJV

Don’t you think that’s a great starting point? It gives me shivers a little. But hits home on the basis and foundation of what our attitude should be. A sacrifice. No longer do our ‘rights’ matter; our rights, selfish goals, desires and plans surrendered and no longer our own.

And before you get a little haughty, read the last line of verse 1 again.

It is our reasonable service.

Think of it this way: when you buy a product, let’s just say for our example a coffeemaker. When it does its function – that is, to make coffee – do we offer laud and praise to the coffeemaker? Do we marvel at it for having made our favorite brew? Likely not. Unless you’re just really enthusiastic in the morning, you just expect the coffeemaker to do its job. It is its reasonable service.

Now, don’t get me wrong – we are more highly valued and more dearly loved than the coffeemaker, but do you get the idea?

That. That is reasonable service. To be a living, willing sacrifice; a tool in God’ hands to be used for what He created us for. And He has created you with a specific purpose in mind.

Revelation 4:11 “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created.” KJ21

We were created for His pleasure. For His pleasure! The God of the universe wanted us for His pleasure. And the number one way to please Him is to trust Him.

Hebrews 11:6 “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” NLT

So we’re back at that ol’ ‘trust’ word again. Why does it always come to that? Wouldn’t it be easier if we could just keep control and let God handle bigger matters? See that’s the thing. Those bigger matters all affect God’s precious children, and as His precious children, He wants us to let Him handle everything.

Continue reading in Romans 12, and look at verse 2.

Romans 12:2 “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” NLT

Q: Does God want us to stay the same?

Q: When will we learn to know God’s will for us?

Yes, by turning over control. I never put these two concepts together before! I love it when God reveals truths from His sweet word.

I would like you to look at the text from Romans 13 and from Daniel.

Daniel 2:21 “He controls the course of world events;    he removes kings and sets up other kings.He gives wisdom to the wise    and knowledge to the scholars.” NLT

So, are you like me in the fact that it’s so hard to trust why we live in the time when we’re living sometimes? When it seems like the world leaders, or leaders that are in power over our country were brought to power somehow apart from God’s will? I think things like that make it hard to trust Him sometimes. But these verses are a valuable reminder that you, even in the time you are living, are still in God’s plan. He planned for you to live in the specific time you are living, and He allowed, yes even appointed the current rulers, knowing full well what their actions and decisions would be. This doesn’t make your obedience and trust any less important. In fact, quite the opposite. I believe God would love your trust and obedience, and honor it especially when you don’t understand. Abraham (See Genesis 22 for the full story) trusted God even when it surely broke his heart, and he certainly didn’t understand. And he was called the friend of God.

We will pick up again next time with more on this topic, but for now, I’d like for you to pray and meditate on how surrendered you are to His will. A truly no matter what surrender. If God prompts your heart that you need to surrender more, then ask Him for help. He will help you!