I can go to the grocery store and find multiple items not on my list that make it into the shopping cart. I’ll walk through, list in hand, and will be doing a mental inventory of our pantry and refrigerator as I go. Having children who eat ketchup with a spoon, I will see the many bottles on the condiment isle and try to remember how much we still have in our bottle – and if we have a back-up. Our eight-year-old has become proficient in making grilled cheese, so bread is something we’re running low on all the time these days, so I find myself grabbing an extra loaf just in case without hesitation.
Shopping for things – other pricier things – well, my spending habits come to a screeching halt. I have never had buyer’s remorse for a bottle of ketchup, but I don’t want to experience it with buying a new vehicle or a home. Vehicles and homes come with a weighty price tag, don’t they? We’ve been in the market for buying a home for the past four years, and now we’re in the market for a new family vehicle as well. I’m in the middle of taking a double whammy on my comfort zone with spending… and I’m struggling.
In all of this, we’re having to make some big decisions – with our vehicles, with our home, and with our work. As we’ve been making these decisions, we decided that keeping the kiddos informed about the plans and how we came to make the choices we’re making, could prove to be good teaching moments. Teaching moments for them or for me? This is when I put humble pie on my shopping list along with the bread and ketchup.
With all of my insecurities with the decisions we’re making, God saw the wisdom in having the grilled-cheese-master ask me a seemingly innocent question. Mom, do we have to? Just five words catapulted us into a God-moment. What if we don’t like it? I had to start verbalizing what I believe to be true about God.
Growing up in the church, I heard Christianese sayings all the time. One of them terrified me as a teenager and young adult – The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will. Man, that sounds so… sound! But then we tend to get caught up in questions about what God’s will is for us. We have to know His will if we’re to make sure to be in the center of it, am I right?
I used to scratch my head raw trying to figure out what God’s will was for my life. Is it His will for me to go into this profession or that one? Is it His will for me to live here or there? I grew up hearing that all of life’s questions are answered in the Bible. Did you know that there is not one chapter or verse in the Bible that mentions being a blogger? Not one chapter or verse that mentions any particular American city or state? Many countries aren’t even mentioned!
Perhaps His will for us is specific in a different way.
Mom, do we have to? What if we don’t like it? This turned into discussion of our decisions being able to produce God’s best for us or not. Oh, the depths of the grilled-cheese-girl! Have you ever noticed that sometimes you have to speak God’s truth in order to realize that you believe it?
No, we don’t have to… but as long as we’re trusting God, as long as we’re seeking Him, everything will work out for our good and we won’t be able to help but like it. That’s what God wants from us – that’s His will for us – to seek Him. Sounds simple yet about as clear as mud.
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34 NASB
This has been the passage that has played across my heart for a few years now. Couple it with my word for the year (or for however long I take to learn it) – surrender. I’ve been known to be a slow-learner and a bit hard-headed at times, so it’s taking a while for me with this.
I’m the type of person that wants to have a plan, but in order to have a viable plan, I require all the details. All the details. I even want the details of things that I don’t know I need the details for. I know the answer God is voicing to me through my conversation with the Queen of Grilled Cheese, but I still come back to God with so many questions.
But seek first His kingdom... what does that mean? A man named Myron Golden explained this out in a way that gave me quite a bit to chew on. I’m not quoting him, but this is the gist. The word kingdom is a compound word that means king’s dominion. We’re to yield our lives to God so that He is the King of our dominion. That’s what we’re seeking – we’re seeking to make Him the King of our life!
Have I submitted myself to His authority? Have I made Him King of my dominion? The times that my uncertainty rises up would suggest that this is an area that I’m still struggling to surrender. To be clear, no one can have a successful, thriving, and fortified kingdom if there is a power struggle.
Matthew 8:5-13 tells us about a Roman soldier – a centurion – who came to Jesus requesting that his servant be healed. Jesus responded along the lines of, Sure, let’s go… take me to him. But the centurion told Jesus that he knew that all Jesus needed to do was to say the word and it would be done because that’s the authority he believed Jesus had. The centurion recognized Jesus’ authority to bring about healing to a servant in his dominion. He was making Jesus the authority – the King – of his dominion. Jesus, the Messiah for the Jews, was being made the Messiah of Roman centurion.
When everything is going right, when all the vehicles are running, the schedule is full of work, everyone is healthy and happy – it’s easy to rest in Him. It’s easy to lift our voices and hands in praise. It’s easy to give thanks. We might even readily state that God is the King of our dominion. But when the vehicle breaks down, there’s a plethora of unpaid free time, and the sniffles turn to chills, are we as eager to worship Him?
With this path that I can’t see all the steps and I don’t know all the details, am I grappling for control? Am I really trying to take back the throne that is only suited for the King of Kings?
While the Bible doesn’t tell me plainly which vehicle I should buy, it doesn’t offer insight on whether I need to buy something that’s not on my list, and it doesn’t have the address for our next home, it does offer a deeper relationship with the One who should be directing my steps. Seek first making God the King of your life… Seek first His righteousness that we become clothed in by His grace…
And all of the other things will fall into place. When we make Him the King of our dominion, we will never fail, and His goodness will endure (Psalm 145). I write this because I’m working on this – not because I have it figured out or mastered. But I urge you to join me. Make Him the King of your dominion.