Trading Places (or Monkey in the Middle)

Devotional for 2/3/11

It’s February; do you know where your New Year’s resolutions are? Mine are still good intentions floating around in my mind. They are rubbing elbows with worries, concerns, unending to do lists, dreams, fears, guilt and wishful thinking. Frankly, no wonder I forget to do things, there’s so much junk in there, how can I expect myself to keep track of what I was planning on doing?

Make lists you say? Write things down to empty my mind of all the information so it can then be organized and prioritized? Good advice, thank you. I happen to be a list maker. I make daily lists, for me and each child. My husband will even ask me to make lists for him. I think he feels more relaxed on the weekend when he can look at a list and see what he isn’t going to do (statement included with his permission and laughter).

Lists are not THE final answer. My mind is still full, my heart is grieved, and my spirit burdened that the things I want to do, I don’t do, and the things I do not want to do, I do still! (Paul’s lament) I need the power of God’s Spirit to be my strength, to be my guide, to be my self-control.

Every day I need to pray and ask God to please give me eyes to see and a heart to understand, to lead me and to protect me from myself and others. I often try to live life in my own strength and the results are always far from satisfactory.

The only way to make sure my mind and my heart are getting the right input of what is true, pure, lovely and worthy is to set up a regular schedule to read the bible. Who has time in their schedule? No one does, we have to trade something out in order to fit something else in.

Does any of this really matter? God loves us right where we are, and we can’t perform to get Him to love us more. But we can live to please Him simply by trusting Him. So no matter how you’ve written (or not written) your resolutions:

Answer this question:
Does the God who lavishly provides you with his own presence,

His Holy Spirit, working things in your lives you could never do for yourselves,

does he do these things because of your strenuous moral striving
or because you trust him to do them in you?
Don't these things happen among you
just as they happened with Abraham? He believed God, and that act of belief
was turned into a life that was right with God.

GALATIANS 3:5-6 (MSG)

Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!

et everyone see that you are considerate in all you do.

Remember, the Lord is coming soon.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything.

Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done

Then you will experience God’s peace,
which exceeds anything we can understand.

His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.

Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable,

and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable.

Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—

everything you heard from me and saw me doing.

Then the God of peace will be with you.

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-9 (NLT)

Dear Lord, I recognize that when I am trying to direct my life and walk in my own power, I am as silly as a monkey dancing for a banana. I choose to trade places with You Lord, and set myself on the sideline and place You at the center of my life. I am nothing that I want to be without you. In Jesus name, Amen.

Written by Mary M. Wilkins