A Battle worth losing…

December 17th, 2009

Romans 8:28; “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”(NIV)

This morning I heard the news about the tragic death of Chris Henry, a wide receiver for my beloved Cincinnati Bengals. The news stunned me because he had simply made a poor decision and this decision took his life instantly. What was even more disturbing was the fact he was in the process of turning his life around. A couple of months ago I saw him kneel and pray after scoring his first touchdown of the season…I pray this meant he was right with God.

Whenever something tragic happens that is due to a poor decision I find myself saying; “but for the grace of God, there go I,” as only God knows why and how I survived the many bad decisions I made in my previous life.

The bottom line is we become the decisions we make and until we surrender everything to God, life is a battle. I often hear Christians say that the battle is against evil and the works of satan. Although I know satan is alive and well, the real battle is between man and his ability to manage God’s gift of free will–effectively.

God gives all of us the ability to make our own decisions. Whether or not we are on a faith walk plays no part in the gift of free will. Often times people find God and accept Jesus and assume their decision making is going to get better. It’s not that easy. We can say we believe all we want, but until we take action, our decision making process will not change.

My decision making has gotten much better over the years but it has only happened because I’ve chosen to have God help me. In short, I had to lose the battle with my free will and ask for God’s will to be done.

Years ago, when I nearly crashed and burned, it was suggested that I start my day by surrendering to God and this required me to “work” the first 3 steps of the 12 steps.

For the sake of keeping it simple: Step 1 involves admitting we are powerless over our free will, Step 2 involves believing that we have access to a power (God thru the Holy Spirit) that can help us utilize our free will in a positive way ,and Step 3 involves making a decision to turn our will and our life over to God…not just in the morning…but all day long. An even simpler way of remembering these 3 steps is the phrase “I can’t, He can, I think I will let him.”

Once surrendering our free will to God becomes a habit, our battles turn into “good” no matter how difficult the battles seem to be, as we fully believe and trust the words of Paul in Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV)

Rest in peace Chris.

P.E.A.C.E.

Jay@EagleLaunch.com