We have this really cool handout at Grace Life International entitled, Living in Peace. It is a diagram of a large cross in the center of the page. The left side of the cross is about our PAST. We often struggle with bitterness, resentment and regret from our past. Those feelings can be directed not only at others but towards ourselves and even God. Because of the cross of Jesus, we can live out of who we are in Christ as forgivers, passing on the forgiveness we have received from God. I’ve been writing on that truth for the past few weeks and have received some wonderful responses from our readers about how God has brought new freedom to their lives. Praise God! (If you have missed those or want to see any of my past blogs, visit www.MarkMauding.com.)
The right side of the cross is about our FUTURE. We often struggle with fear, worry and
anxiety as we think about our future.
Have you ever written a fearful story in your mind about how a situation
is going to turn out in the future? I
have many times and what I’ve noticed is that God is never involved in that story.
That’s the enemy putting those kinds of fearful thoughts into our minds.
A major way to live in peace about our
future is to give up our rights to our future to God. That is what the right side of the cross
shows in this diagram. In Philippians
2:6, we read about Jesus, Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something
to cling to. (NLT) Jesus, being God, had the right to stay
in heaven in the future instead of becoming a human being. However, He gave up that right in order to
please His Father. In the same way, our
same Father, asks us to give up our rights, too.
There are those who say we have no rights to give up and
there are those who say we do. It’s
probably both. Jesus had a right to stay
in heaven as God. Paul had a right to
marry a Christian wife like Peter did.
Those were legitimate rights, but they
gave them up. There are other times we
have “false” rights which are not true.
How about - the right to have perfect children? - the right to have a perfect spouse? - the right to get married? - the right to perfect health? And more.
Do you want to have peace in the present? Forgive others, yourself and God (God cannot
sin but we can still feel angry with him.)
Then give up your rights for your life to go the way you believe it must
for you to be happy. We say it this way
at GLI. A desire is fine but once we turn
it from a desire to an expectation, we start living by law instead of
grace.
If you would like a copy of this handout, please click here https://www.scribd.com/doc/271473630/Living-in-Peace-in-the-Present
and download it for free.
Believe it. It’s the Gospel.
Live Free in Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!
