by Brandy Webb

I teach at a small private school, and one of my fellow teachers stated a good point. First, she mentioned how the Scriptures teach us that we have to “die to self” in order to follow Christ, bear good fruit, to live by faith, to be renewed, etc. (some references: Luke 9:23-24; John 12:24; Galatians 2:20). She then pointed out that in order to do this, we have to give it all to God, everything, our finances, our marriage, our children, our homes, our education, our lives—everything. Everything has to come secondary to God.

By doing this, we keep ourselves focused on Him, and it gives us strength in the now. When we stop ourselves from worrying about life, we start to enjoy life. We start to find things to thank God for instead of complaining. Also, when life throws those curve balls or battering rams, our minds are strong because we know and believe that God is in control. We trust that He “has our backs” because we gave our struggles to Him.

The sad truth is this isn’t easy to do. Humans have control issues. We like to be the one in the driver’s seat, not the passenger’s. We like to fix our own problems. I really think it is a pride issue. Our pride tries to keep us from giving everything to God because it requires us to realize we are powerless to change the world. We can’t change or fix anything without God’s intervention and sometimes that is hard to swallow. I know some people that prefer to think that God isn’t involved with us anymore. They think that He just sits there in Heaven watching from afar and not interacting with us. Their reason behind this is because they want to know that their successes and failures are all on them and not reliant on God’s intervention.

I don’t believe nor do I want to believe that God doesn’t interact with us. I want to know that He is there to help and give me strength. Life is too hard to go at it alone. Therefore, I must strive to humble myself, and give up control of my life, to devote myself fully to God and “die to self”. I need to give it all to Him.

The neat thing about giving all to God is that the burden of life lightens. Plus, when we give it to God we do not need to wonder if we are making a mistake or going in the wrong direction because, if our lives are devoted fully to Him, He will direct our steps (Proverbs 3:5-6).

I believe that God is involved always just like in the days of old. He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). We have a Father and a Messiah in Heaven that loves us more than we can possibly imagine. Plus, they have wisdom that surpasses the wisest people in history. Therefore, give everything to God, and “seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give [us] everything [we] need” (Matthew 6:33, NLT).