Tug of War!

“Give it to God,” you say?

“But, it’s MINE!”

“Let go of it,” you suggest?

“But I don’t want to,” my childish whine echos from the depths of my well earned pity pot.

Just imagine for a moment if you will, if you can, who would you be without your hangups? What would your life be like without your depression, your pride, your arrogance, your negative self image, your addictions, your anger, your fears, your self pity…

God desires and asks us to surrender everything to Him. The key word here is He “asks.” Oh, I know it is easier said than done – just let go and let God, right? In fact, it is so easy that, all too often, I have secretly wished God would just take the reigns out of my hands and force me to sit in the passengers seat, rather than wait patiently for me to give the reigns over to Him. And let’s face it, this just takes too long sometimes! My stubbornness typically does not allow me to hand over the reigns until I have tried and failed at something on my own an endless number of times.

But, He loves us so much that He will never force us to do anything. His greatest gift to us is our free will to choose! So, who are we really playing “tug of war” with then? (a loaded question, I know) I believe it is with ourselves and our own baggage.

If you struggle, like I do, with not wanting to let go and let God, then let me propose some questions that could help us to think about it in a different perspective:

• If we choose to listen to, indulge in and cater to our negative baggage every day, then what purpose does His death have?
• If we refuse to lay it all at His feet, then why did we hang Him on the cross?
• Isn’t it selfish of us to cling, almost desperately, to our own short comings?
• What did He die for if it wasn’t for all of our sins, inequities and short comings?
• Did He die in vain?

Let us imagine getting rid of our heavy loads and our baggage, and the freedom we can experience by letting go of all our own negative stuff. Imagine the weight being lifted from your shoulders, so you can show the world all the good things you have to offer, instead of them seeing only a heaping mess. Finally, do not join me in my pity pot, but help me to get out.

So, do you ever find yourself playing, “tug of war?”