God's World

 It’s God’s world, we just live in it

Genesis 1:1--2 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

Exodus 19:5-6 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

I’m sure you have heard the phrase: “It’s your world, I just live in it”. When someone says "this is your world, I just live in it" to another person, they are essentially saying that the other person has control over the situation or relationship, and they are merely a part of it, or the person is implying that everything revolves around you. Or even "It's my world; you're just living in it!"

Everything about this screams, "Me, me, me!" We focus so much on choosing a career, choosing how we spend our free time, how we dress, relate to others, and just about everything else. Pretty much everything in our society warrants the freedom of choice.

Everything I know to be true is subject to my experiences. So, subjectively, the world I am in my world  is all about me, what I want, what I can get, "what I will make of myself," etc.

But that's not what the bible teaches.

This isn't our world. Living with free will isn't a right; it's a gift from God to live out His purpose and plan. So, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what my choices are. God calls me to choose to submit to His will.

Proverbs 19:21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Among all the wonders we are blessed with, one of the most powerful things that we have got is the power of “free will” or Choice. God has created humans with Free Will. We, therefore, are living our lives exercising the power of freedom over our personal choices and decisions. Life is full of choices. Every day God gives us the freedom to make choices about what we think is going to be good, or even best for us. The success and failure of our life is made up of the little choices we make every day of our lives. For every action there is a reaction, and for every choice there is a consequence. Most people don’t put careful thoughts on the life God wants them to possess. Often they become distracted with the cares and concerns that come their way without ever living a more fulfilling life. 

The power to choose is in our hands. We can choose wisely or unwisely as we are confronted with decisions, temptations, choices and priorities. We make decisions every day. Some decisions have far reaching consequences and other decisions are not so far reaching. But our choices determine the values, character, direction, and destiny of our life. When you need wisdom remember that God is the source of wisdom. Prayerfully consider the eternal nature of your Creator, the fleeting reality of your life, and the just wrath of God.

God has a great destiny for us if we choose to embrace his will for our lives. Our destiny is shaped by the choices we make, NOT by chance. The choices we make to prioritize God, friendships and our purpose are the most important of those decisions. Everything we are going through in life, whether good or bad, can serve for good when we make choices to love God.

Psalms 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.

So I want to leave you with this, we don’t live in our world; we live in God’s world. So remember this:

Place Your Life Before God

Romans 12:1-2 So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. (The Message)