“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
“And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Cor. 5:15
One day I had a “great idea”. Truly, it really was a “great idea”. I had everything worked out in my mind. How it would all work. Who would be involved. Where it would happen. How it could grow. How my ministry would be involved. All the “great” things that could come of it. On and on. Such is the life of a dreamer. I’m quite good at daydreaming. And some would call me a visionary. I tend to have ideas. Lots of them. Even “great ones” sometimes. But there was one problem that day, and with that problem comes a warning.
The Spirit of God gave me a few minutes of dreaming up my “great idea” before He interrupted me and showed me why in His eyes it was not a “great idea”. And He made it plain and clear my “great idea” wasn’t HIS idea; it was NOT His will. Not in the least. He wanted to stop me before I ventured out trying to put my “great idea” into fruition. Not so very long ago, in my pride and self-centeredness, I would probably have gone a pretty long way before I opened my ears to hear the Spirit of God. Before I was willing to face the truth. Not every “great idea” is God’s, you know. Oh, sure, an idea can be “great” in our own eyes. And even in the world’s eyes. And sometimes even in the devil’s eyes. But the eyes, and the heart, that matter, they are the Lord’s. Is the idea great in His eyes? In His heart? Is it HIS WILL?
When we commit our lives to the Lord, when we become His genuine followers, we realize JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, and we are to surrender our whole hearts and lives to Him, and not to live for us and this world, but to live for Him and for His glory. No matter how “great” we may think our dreams, agendas, plans, ideas, etc., we need to humble ourselves, to realize and remember and acknowledge and live like JESUS CHRIST IS LORD, and submit our “great ideas” to Him, and yield to whatever God’s will is for us, whether those “great ideas” turn out to be the ideas He has given us, for which HE GETS THE GLORY, not us, or whether He tells us to let them go because His plans for us are entirely different.
My great idea fizzled that day almost as quickly as I imagined it. But how thankful I am that over the years the Lord has taken me to a place of such surrender I understand now I am entirely His, and that the plans set before me and the dreams envisioned for me and the agenda that belongs to me is not to be mine, but HIS – not for my glory, but FOR HIS.
Contemplating some “great idea”? Some idea you think is “great” anyway? Or that others think is “great”? Or that the devil has convinced you is “great”? Set that “great idea” in the hands of the Lord, seek Him, dig deep into His Word and draw closer to Him, and let the Spirit of God who dwells inside His followers show you what to do with that idea. If the plan is His, He will enable you to fulfill it. If it is not His, He will enable you to let it go.
Do not live for yourself, according to your own ways, and with your own ideas as your agenda, but live surrendered to Christ, not for your glory, friend, but forever FOR HIS! For JESUS CHRIST IS LORD FOREVERMORE!