OK God, You Win

It's not about winning or losing, it's about how you play the game. Yeah, right. I'm sorry, but I'm pretty competitive and I like to win. I refuse to play cards with my friends because I'm afraid of losing. Pretty bad, huh! There's something inside that wants to win, and there's something closely related that wants to be right. Being wrong or losing is not something that we naturally try to do, and there are those of us who are stubbornly set against it.

That must be why Jesus changed the rules. The first shall be last and the last shall be first. Someone wants your coat? Give him your cloak too. The woman with nothing to give was praised for giving all that she had. Jesus thinks upside down. The laws of the Kingdom work differently than ours. It's all backwards. Pretty much all of what Jesus taught is counter- intuitive. He messes with our head and wants us to stop thinking that we know it all. If we stop plowing forward, forcing the rules to fit our own personal structure, we'll never see God work His miracles in our lives.

Setting aside my personal agenda to let God have His takes real effort. Must take my hands off! Must take my hands off! Stop, stop, stop! All the experts say to do this, but God said, um, not for you. You need to do it this way. A way that seems all wrong. A way with no public support. A way you have to totally trust. If you try to help, you'll mess it up. It might limp along, but not with the life that it could have.

That's what the Old Testament miracles were all about, goofy commands that brought radical power. Dunk yourself seven times in the river and the leprosy will be healed? Step into the water and the river will hold back? Raise your staff and your army wins? None of that makes sense. Fortunately, there were people who knew enough to trust God when He said to. That's what I want in my life. I want to have the sense to do what I'm told, without arguing or obeying slowly. I want to let go of being right. It hasn't been that successful for me anyway. I want to embrace the God-way and see what happens. And if it doesn't work the way I thought it would, then I was thinking all wrong anyway.