What can we bring? - Agenda
Last Sunday's sermon, based on Malachi 1, was titled "What Can I Bring Him?" The premise behind the message was that the Israelite's hearts had become dull and while they were going through the motions of worship, they were not really worshiping. Added to that, they were giving God the leftovers. Lame animals that would not be accepted by human authorities. And, God was not impressed. In fact, He told them in essence, "Why don't you just shut the doors of the temple? It would be better than what you are doing now."
The sad thing is, we can be just as foolish today. Instead of giving God our best, we often give Him our leftovers and expect Him to bless it. Or worse, we don't give Him anything and expect him to bless us anyway.
The message then went on to talk about 10 things we can bring to God and place before Him. They were, in alpha order: Agendas, Brokenness, Family, Grievances, Intentionality, Moldability, Obedience, Relationships, Teachability, and Time.
Today, I want to talk about the first one: Agendas.
For some reason, we are beholden to our plans. In fact, living your plans is the subject of a multitude of books, articles, blogs, TED talks, and more. Yet, when we try to live our plans instead of giving them to God, we are giving him second best. We act as though our plans and dreams are better than His. He is Creator of the Universe who stretched out the heavens with His hands. Can He not guide us?
To give my agenda to Him means that I have to give up on my own plans and choose to live His plans. If I have been walking closely with Him, there may not be a big difference. But, if I haven't, then His plans may be totally opposite of my own. But, as His child, His disciple, His servant, I have to believe that His plans, His will, are better than anything I can come up with.
So, the question is, am I willing to give Him my agenda, to turn my plans over to Him every day and let Him change them as He sees fit? If not, I am giving Him second best.
The sad thing is, we can be just as foolish today. Instead of giving God our best, we often give Him our leftovers and expect Him to bless it. Or worse, we don't give Him anything and expect him to bless us anyway.
The message then went on to talk about 10 things we can bring to God and place before Him. They were, in alpha order: Agendas, Brokenness, Family, Grievances, Intentionality, Moldability, Obedience, Relationships, Teachability, and Time.
Today, I want to talk about the first one: Agendas.
For some reason, we are beholden to our plans. In fact, living your plans is the subject of a multitude of books, articles, blogs, TED talks, and more. Yet, when we try to live our plans instead of giving them to God, we are giving him second best. We act as though our plans and dreams are better than His. He is Creator of the Universe who stretched out the heavens with His hands. Can He not guide us?
To give my agenda to Him means that I have to give up on my own plans and choose to live His plans. If I have been walking closely with Him, there may not be a big difference. But, if I haven't, then His plans may be totally opposite of my own. But, as His child, His disciple, His servant, I have to believe that His plans, His will, are better than anything I can come up with.
So, the question is, am I willing to give Him my agenda, to turn my plans over to Him every day and let Him change them as He sees fit? If not, I am giving Him second best.
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