Sunday, August 3, 2014

Staying in My Own Lane


***Other bloggers are blogging through the alphabet this summer, and I thought I would join the fun. (I am starting a little late because I was blogging about  our trip to Israel  for the past month.) We start with A and go through Z, posting about the same topic using a different letter. The topic I am going to attempt is the ABC’s of Growing Closer to God. So, here goes . . . .with the letter A.***
          Bible teacher, Beth Moore, tells the story of watching her friend’s son run in the Special Olympics. He had cerebral palsy and by most standards he would not be a natural to win a running race. Still, the race began and the crowd cheered for all the runners. One by one they all crossed the finish line. Beth’s friend’s son finished last. A few moments after the race, the family was surprised to hear their son’s name being called to the podium to receive a gold medal. They did not understand. They asked the official why their son was receiving the gold medal when he finished the race last. The official said, “Your son is the winner because he was the only one who followed the rules. Your son was the only one to stay in his own lane the entire race.
          I love this story because it teaches us the importance of staying in our own lane, meaning don’t try to control everyone else around us.
          To start to grow closer to God, we need to stop trying to control everything and
                                    Admit that we are not God.
This is a big one. No, I don’t think we actually go around saying we are God, but by our actions, we are showing we think we are God. Even if we are not admitted control freaks, we want to control things, situations, people, at the very least our kids. We want to control our finances and our futures, and our kid’s futures. We want to plan for every possible future scenario that could bring negative consequences.
          The truth is, in order to grow closer to God, we need to stop obsessing about controlling everything and everyone around us. The Bible is clear, that only God knows the future, only God controls the future, and the future of the world has already been planned and written about in the Bible, by God. God is in control, not us, no matter how much we try to control things.
           We need to stay in our own lanes in the race of life. We need to let God be God, since He has done a pretty good job of it from the dawn of time. We need to do the things He has called us to do, and outlined for us in His Word. And, we need to let other people, including our kids, our spouse, our boss, our church leaders, those driving around us, the annoying person who causes us to wait longer than we want, to run in their own lane.
          God has called each of us to our own race, in our own unique lane. Once we can Admit that we are not God, we can be on our way to growing as a true lover, follower and disciple that He wants us to be.
                  “Let us keep running the race set before us with endurance.” Hebrews 12:1

Is there any area of your life where you are not staying in your own lane? Can we all agree that we are not God, and let go of the things we should be letting Him control?
 I am going to try to stay in my own lane today.

 

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