I have fun on Sunday mornings. Most of you don’t know this, but there are a few of us who arrive early every Sunday morning. We sit in the back pew and we have some of the most fascinating, exhilarating, and entertaining conversations you could imagine. We talk about anything and everything. The topic of conversation ranges from parenting to disciplining children to experiences at church camp to tools to taxes and everything in between.
We have a great time exchanging thoughts and making jokes and enjoying each other’s company. That experience is what fellowship is all about. Half-jokingly I like to say that we are ‘solving all the world’s problems.’
You’ll notice I was only half joking. While I may make that comment in jest, the truth is each of us are quick to offer our opinions as to how to make things better. We have all the answers for how to teach people to be more responsible parents, how to prepare them to discipline their children, how to deal with difficult people, how to handle your finances in an orderly manner. I mean, we have a solution for everything.
As I’ve thought about our conversations, it’s almost comical. Here we are – three ordinary guys spouting off on how to make the world a better place. If anyone else were listening to our discussion from the outside, they would laugh hysterically at our simple-minded prescription for peace and happiness. I’ve been laughing about it – and I’m one of the participants!
Then it occurred to me…that’s the way we are. Most of us who live here in twenty-first century America, we think we have all the answers. Oh…we may act all humble. But just ask somebody, anybody, and I guarantee you, they will tell you what they think on just about any subject. We don’t lack for opinions because we’ve got the answers. Or so we think.
The truth is there is only one person with all the answers – and it ain’t me. The Bible says that only God is sovereign. He’s the only one who truly has all the answers, and has the power to enact them. It says, “God does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” The reason we miss out on so much of what Jesus called the ‘abundant life’ is because we think we already know what it is, and end up chasing after a bunch of stuff that really doesn’t mean anything. Friends, it is vitally important that we acknowledge the fact that we are not the masters of the universe. God is – and he knows what he’s doing. We all would be a lot better off if we would just let God do his job instead of trying to take his place…
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