WE ARE FREE! THE PRESSURE'S OFF!
Oh wow, this is so cool! I had to share…
I was just reading 1 Timothy 1:12:
“And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which I have committed [to Him] until that day.” (2 Timothy 1:12 AMP) http://bible.us/8/2ti.1.12.amp
And I was wondering what it was that Paul entrusted to God… It didn’t make sense that Paul would be entrusted with something BY GOD and then entrust it BACK TO GOD, and I thought something didn’t make sense… So I copied the verse and rewrote it in my own words, in a way that sounded less poetic and more REAL…
I personally know and love this God, I can attest to who he is; there is no doubt in my mind that I can trust him, not only that he will keep his promises, but also that he has the power to protect my best interests (not the Better Life of blessings I would like, but the Better Hope I long for, to no longer desire anything else more than I desire simply his presence, drawing close to him) that I have placed in his hands and I trust him to bring about whatever is necessary to bring me closer to him.
And as I researched the original Greek word for “entrusted” I learned that it meant “deposit” as in safe deposit box, or in a pawn shop on consignment until the debt is paid off… And it hit me that the only possible thing Paul could’ve been talking about that he entrusted God with, or that he gave BACK to God, was in fact his striving for the Better Life. He had given up on his hope of blessings and power and easiness, and had instead trusted God to bring him (Paul) wherever he needed to be to learn to draw near to God above everything else. He had given God the power over the pressure in his life. The pressure was off. Wow.
I STRONGLY, STRONGLY, STRONGLY encourage anyone to read the book “The Pressure’s Off” by Larry Crabb. This post will make much more sense… Here are a few excerpts and the link to ibooks:
“Whatever else I wanted that God could provide I assumed I could secure by making the right choice. My part was to figure out the required A and do it; His was to provide the B I wanted. [the Law of Linearity] I had it wrong. I didn’t do anything of merit to win heaven. I simply presented myself to God.”
“But there are two difficulties with this new arrangement [the Law of Liberty, which has replaced the Law of Linearity]. One, it requires us to yield control over what happens in our lives and to trust God to do whatever He thinks best…. We prefer to claim influence, if not control, over which blessings come our way. Two, it’s harder to enjoy God than His blessings. Offer a young child the choice of having Daddy present Christmas morning with no gifts or having Daddy absent and a stack of gifts piled high beneath the tree, and the child might choose the gifts. Only the mature value the blessing of presence over the blessing of presents. Until we develop a taste for God, we prefer a better life of blessings from God over a better hope of intimacy with Him. And because we prefer control over trust, we return to a more acceptable kind of linearity, a version of our own making—one that we can handle—to see to it life works as we want.”
Excerpts From: Crabb, Larry. “The Pressure’s Off.” WaterBrook Press, 2012-06-27. iBooks. This material may be protected by copyright.
Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=531976687
I can see this whole new world unfolding before me, into a miraculous picture I could never see before… Now that my eyes are open to the Better Life (physical blessings) VERSUS the Better Hope (intimate friendship with the Blesser). All our lives we thought they were one and the same, and so impossibly unattainable, and we were destined to be forever striving… THIS IS THE LIBERTY, THE FREEDOM WE HAVE HAD ALL ALONG, AND WE TRULY DO SIT IN CAGES OF OUR OWN MAKING. WE HAVE NO IDEA THAT THOUGH WE ARE TOLD THAT WE ARE FREE, WE CONTINUALLY/CONSTANTLY CHOOSE TO BE ENSLAVED.
God is so awesome, isn’t he? I love how when we ask him to draw us closer to him, and to grow that desire in us for us to draw closer to him, he never EVER says no!
Again, WOW. Mind-blowing. Just thought I would share what God told me tonight/this morning.