II Corinthians 1:17-22 (NIV) 17When I planned this, did I do it lightly? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner so that in the same breath I say, "Yes, yes" and "No, no"? 18But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." 19For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by me and Silas and Timothy, was not "Yes" and "No," but in him it has always been "Yes." 20For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God. 21Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
How many years have we lived and served a tyrant? It may have been the tyrant of our ambition. It may have been the tyrant of our worries. It may have been the tyrant of our fears and insecurities. It may have been the tyrant of our own desires wanting, demanding and trying to control things so life went our way. And it may be the tyrant of responsibility, and by responsibility I mean having a sense of responsibility that is cut off from any sense of accountability to God.
The Christian life could be described as the continual process of leaving one of the tyrants that dominate our life and surrendering to God, giving ourselves to the Lord. This is the decision to quit trying so hard to get by on our own and to let God lead and empower us. It is to put our life, all that we are and all that we have at God’s disposal.
In Jesus we meet a God who has a love and commitment to us that we never dreamed possible. We experience a God who wants better things for our life than we do. In Jesus Christ God gives a fresh start with all the rips from the past repaired.
In Jesus we discover a God who cares. And Paul says it was out of their affliction that some discovered the riches of God. Sometimes it may be the pain of persecution. Sometimes the pain may come from serving a tyrant. It simply becomes too much and instead of driving us into despair or luring us into a spirit of indifference, we walk into the secure love of God.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope March 7, 1999
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
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