But I Don't Want To!

Suggested Reading: Philippians 2:1-13

"But I don't want to!!"

I don’t think that there was any other single response that I hated hearing more from my children. When we were trying to get everyone ready for bed and I asked them to brush their teeth. "But I don't want to!" I would tell them that we were going to do something special Saturday afternoon but that I needed them to get their rooms clean. "But I don't want to!" I had washed, dried and folded laundry and I asked them to put away their clothes. "But I don't want to!"

Now, in all fairness, my kids didn't say it all that often. They are really good kids. But, every now and then, when they hadn't had enough sleep or they were in a bad mood, out came, "But I don't want to!" Like I tell my kids, "It drives Daddy batty!"

If I'm honest, though, there are times when I think I treat my heavenly father the same way. The Spirit nudges me to go talk to a stranger. So, I make an excuse and come up with a good reason to avoid it but what I am really saying is, "But I don't want to!" I am convicted that I need to cut back on my media consumption and spend more time doing kingdom work. So, I tell myself that I really don't spend that much time watching tv or on the internet and there's not much I could really do with the time I would give up anyway. But what I am really saying is, "But I don't want to!"

I know that God's directions have purpose both for God's glory and for my good. I want to obey God and live a life that pleases God but, sometimes, when God leads me to do or to change something, I just don’t want to. Fortunately for me and those of you like me, there is a verse that gives us hope. In Philippians 2, Paul has given us the example of Christ, who placed all of his own rights and desires aside in order to obey God's purposes, and then he talks about how we are supposed to live out the salvation that Christ provided for us. Then he adds this little piece of hope in 2:13 "For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out his good purpose" (HCSB).

God is enabling us to desire his good purpose! Does that mean that we automatically desire what God wants? No. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. But it does mean that God is working in us, giving us the ability to desire what God wants. We can want what God wants. We can desire what God nudges us to change. But the key is actually doing it. When we follow God's leading and do what we have been called to do, we will be surprised to discover how much we actually want to do it.

Right now, we may be screaming inside, "But I don't want to!" But God is working in us so that we can desire the very same things God does. Will we allow God to change us? Or will we stubbornly avoid those things that we don't want to do?

Fearing God For His Forgiveness

Suggested Reading: Psalm 130

One of the bad things about vacation, especially if you have things planned to do, is that kids can get really tired and cranky. When they start misbehaving there is a fine line that parents must walk between being disciplinarians and extending forgiveness. If we don't discipline them when they misbehave, they begin to believe that it is acceptable to misbehave. If we are so harsh with our discipline that a transgression is unforgivable and they don't get to do anything they can adopt an attitude of "Well, I've already blown it, what is the point in trying to behave?" When we come down on our kids (especially on vacation), we want them to believe that they stand a chance at forgiveness so that we stand a chance at getting them to behave.

Psalm 130 expresses a similar situation between us and God. Psalm 130:3-4 reads, "Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared" (HCSB). At first, that sentiment seems a little odd. How does offering forgiveness lead to fearing God? But the principle is exactly the same as I described with my children on vacation. If God didn't offer forgiveness, what would be the point in fearing God? We have all sinned at some point, most of us before we truly begin to grasp the consequences. Without the prospect of forgiveness, there is no point in trying to obey God because we are already damned. But if we can be forgiven, then there is a possibility that trying to live right from this point forward will pay off.

As parents, employers, supervisors, and people in authority, there is a tremendous lesson to be learned here. Offering forgiveness does not mean we are weak. Offering forgiveness does not have to undercut our authority. In fact, not offering forgiveness may undercut our authority more. The possibility of forgiveness can be motivation for people to do their best because they understand that one failure does not mean disqualification from the benefits of living and working well. But refusing to offer forgiveness can harden people against us and de-motivate people because there is no longer any point in trying to do things the right way.

But this principle is also significant because it is a logical basis for us to remain grounded in the hope of God's forgiveness. There are times when we think we have messed up so badly there is no point trying anymore, when we think we have disqualified ourselves because we have done something so terrible that forgiveness is no longer an option. If that is where you find yourself, the psalmist reminds us that God offers forgiveness so that we might fear Him. God would rather forgive you and bring you back onto the straight and narrow than condemn you. God is more interested in you living right from here on out than in punishing you for the misdeeds of the past.

"Yahweh, if You considered sins, Lord who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be feared." God wants to forgive us. Will we accept forgiveness or harden ourselves for no reason? Will we offer this same forgiveness to those around us?

Driving Your Heavenly Daddy Batty

Suggested Reading: James 4:1-16

When they were very small, both of my children went through a phase when they insisted on doing everything for themselves. Most children go through this phase at some point, but my children nearly drove me crazy with it. They wanted to do everything for themselves whether they were actually capable of doing it or not. And if I tried to help or (God forbid!) to do it for them then I would hear, "I can do it myself, Daddy!" At times, I got so frustrated with their stubborn refusal of my help that I started saying, "You're gonna drive your daddy batty!" Eventually, though, they both reached the point where they realized that wasting two hours on something Daddy could do in thirty seconds wasn't worth it until they learned to do it a little better.

Sometimes, because we are all children, we treat our Heavenly Father the same way, arrogantly insisting that we can do things ourselves, especially when coming up with our own plans for life. Jesus' brother James warned us, Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.” You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes. Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil (James 4:13-16, HCSB). There is nothing wrong with making plans for the future. In fact, it's a responsible thing to do. But boasting about our own plans or stating for a fact that we will carry out our own plans means we have forgotten two very important things. One, we have forgotten that God probably has plans that far outshine our own and, two, that we are children of the Father and must do what our Father wants.

Making plans is good. Learning to account for variables and strategize and plan is one of the many ways we can grow into becoming more and more like God. But we must constantly be comparing our plans to God's, listening for the changes God would make and obeying so that we can improve our own planning, slowly becoming more and more spirit-led in our planning. But learning and growing in that manner demands a humility from us which recognizes that our plans are neither perfect nor certain.

What plans have you begun banking on?  Do you have plans that have become so important to you that you no longer seek God's guidance, afraid that God will change them? Have you been getting frustrated that your plans keep falling through? Perhaps you need to remember that your planning skills don't yet match your Heavenly Father's. Perhaps God is trying to warn you that your own plans have become too important to you. Or maybe you just need to remember that God is the master planner and has a plan waiting for you if you are willing to follow it.

Don't get hung up on your own plans. Make them, but then take them to the Master Planner and learn how He would improve them. Don't waste years doing your own planning when God could help you through it.