A friend of mine recently shared with me a values search tool, which can serve both as a life guide map and as a time management tool. The thought here is that if you narrow down the top 3-5 core values you hold for your life and weigh everything from your daily tasks to your big life decisions against them to see how they measure up, it should help you prioritize and gain control of your life.
One of my core values was empowerment - the freedom to make liberating decisions to control my own life. Control...that's what so many of us desire is it not? But the interesting thing about holding this value for me personally is that it falls at #3 in the rankings, tucked a ways behind my #1 value which is serving and loving God and living out His will for my life.
So one might ask, isn't this in direct contradiction with the other. After all, if I am living out God's will, I can not possibly be living out my own. And if I have relinquished my own will, how can I claim to value control over my own life.
The answer is two-fold.
The first is that I accept that God is in control, but he allows me the freedom of free-will to control my own life. At any point God could step in and change any circumstance, he did create us after all. However, often times he chooses not to. Perhaps to allow us to understand the consequences of our own actions or to further his kingdom (although often times we don't see this until years later when we are reflecting back on situations which have come to pass).
The second is that I believe and accept that God has a purpose for my life and have dedicated my life to fulfilling it. This is where it is crucial that I remain empowered to do so.
I want to share a few of T.D. Jakes' thoughts from his book, Maximize The Moment, "God created you for a purpose, you are destined to accomplish certain things."..."God has given you the map; it is your calling to follow it."..."You should not, cannot, and do not need to control someone else's life; you just need to control your own." And I'll end with Jake's most important point he leaves his readers with, "You do not have to please anyone except God, our Father. We are accountable to Him alone."
Jakes' advice for staying on track: "Constantly take inventory of your life and determine what does and doesn't work for you. If you want to maximize your life and fulfill the plan that God has for you, you must take control of your life. Know when to say when, trim off the excess, and release yourself from the past. You cannot soar to great heights if you are weighted down with excess baggage. Learn to let go so you can fly."
Make no mistake, living in God's will - I had to surrender my own. To live in Christ, I had to die to my self.
But to tell you the truth...it was my own self who was always longing...always searching...but never finding...true lasting joy. I can not say the same for my surrendered soul in Christ.
I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. John 12:24
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