Ever felt like your life is not your own, all the competing pressures, jobs, voices. Its bad enough what each new day brings but often the voices & behaviours from our past contend for our time and space in the present.
Have you ever said ‘Stop the World, I want to get off’, surely I’m not the only one? And whilst there is much behind us saying this to ourselves, today let’s address our perception of Whose Life Is This.
What do you believe around concepts like:
- YOU choose your actions;
- Even not making a decision is a decision;
- You are responsible for your responses;
- Life is what YOU make it;
- Life is like a box of chocolates;
- Fake it ‘til you make it;
- All good things come to those who wait; or
- Its hard to fly like an eagle when your surrounded by a bunch of turkeys;
- My life would be different if I wasn’t abused, if I didn’t have that car accident, if my wife really loved me, if I had children, if I had more money/time/friends…..; and
- I’ve got so much to do.
Have you thought these things, do you operate from them, I’m not debating (today 
) here the right or wrong of them, I just want you to get the gist of what they are telling us.
When you look at each of these concepts, that to some become fundamental beliefs, we can see that there is a strong sense of ‘I’ involved. That supports the idea that this is OUR life, that I’m here, I’m present, this is ME, even I’m unique a one off.
Can you see how this has been supported in the way some raise their kids. Now’s not the time to dive into the whys of how we got here. I want to show you what the Bible tells us about WHOSE LIFE IS THIS ANYWAY.
God created you, on purpose, with intention, to fulfil His purpose. You are the way you are because you were created. You are designed according to the Why of your creation. Lets look at two Bible verses.
The Lord Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will happen. Isaiah 14:24
People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. Hebrews 6:16-17
Here we see that God both promised and made an oath so its ‘very clear’ to us that what He purposes will happen. Now look at these verses:
He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time 2 Timothy 1:8-9
Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21
So now we see that we were created for His purpose. WHOSE LIFE IS IT ANYWAY – clearly its God’s. Now this SHOULD fill you with joy, you should shout in triumph, you should rest in His perfect planning. No more do you have to feel like your life is not your own and be totally despondent about it but rather be totally jubilant.
So why do we feel despondent, why to we say ‘Stop the world, I want to get off’ – purely because we have failed to go to the creator and say “Hey – why did you make me? – what is the ‘WHY’ of my creation? – what was my intended purpose?”. We are living under the false belief that this is OUR life, that we determine our days and we struggle because this false belief does not hold up under water – obviously – because we are feeling as if our life is not our own.
Why don’t you take a moment today, have a conversation with God in prayer and in reading the Bible, and just simply ask “Why am I ME?” open your heart to hear you are loved so much that all your days were determined before your first day. That yes you are unique – but not so you can be an ‘I’ – but so you fulfil Gods plan.
This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.
For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back? Isaiah 14:26-27