Angry, vindictive Ben wanted to get back at his girlfriend so this man who weighs over 400# (having already lost over 300# after having surgery to staple his stomach) decided to punish her by taking a walk, in the summer, on the streets of Phoenix in over 100 degree temperatures! Not the best choice. He ended up with 3rd and 4th degree burns on his feet.
From outside in we can clearly say: not the best choice. But how frequently do we make choices equally poor out of anger and hurt? How frequently are our emotions, our thinking, our choices, our desires and our words dictated by whim rather than connected to faith?
Here’s the basic need in our hearts and lives— to bring our lives back to Jesus moment by moment. What if Ben, rather than this decision to punish and hurt his girlfriend and impact his own life as well, instead of this self destructive action chose to speak, to say: “Here’s what I’m telling myself right now…” and honestly communicated the kind of stuff going on in his head? Well, maybe, rather than thousands of dollars in hospital bills and the possibility of never walking again, they might have worked through the feelings and hurts.
If Jesus is everything the New Testament writers claim he is, truly, then He has the desire, the right, the ability, and the sovereignty to be our Lord in every aspect of life. He literally can be our go-to for all those stray aspects of thought and action. We can give him our hearts and allow him to sway them.
Sometimes we use the words “Lord Jesus” without meaning them. Not that we actually think we are doing this, but we pray to the “Lord” yet don’t follow his lead.
I don’t write to shame, ever, but to expose and raise the question. Is Jesus Lord of your life? Where are the areas, where are the places over which he needs to be given lordship?
For as we look at scripture there’s no doubt that those people living around Jesus believed wholeheartedly that Jesus was the Lord, “My Lord and My God,” Thomas proclaimed. Let’s learn to live this as well, taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.