Imagine a world where you got your way 100% of the time.

Initially, that may sound like a great thing, but slow down long enough to really chew on that point and you’ll quickly realize what a disaster that would be. 

As humans, our emotions, opinions, and personal preferences can be all over the place, can’t they?  What could be more damaging to ourselves (and those around us) than if we were empowered with everything we wanted 24/7?

Recently I had a situation impact my life that I could not control.  It involved other people and their decisions, but the results of those decisions were having a ripple effect on me.

I absolutely wanted this situation to go “my way”, but it did not.  At all.

I quickly jumped on my internal emotional roller-coaster, buckled up, and away I went!  I climbed the first hill of frustration, plunged into personal hurt doing Mach-1, and corkscrewed through several cycles of anger. 

In a prayerful plea, I begged God to change my circumstances as I continued to wrestle with my emotions.  The soft answer I received was not what I was expecting to hear.

“Not my will, but Yours be done…”

Conviction.

Jesus prayed those words before going to the cross.  Anticipating the brutality, anger, torture, and agonizing death He was about to face at the hands of cruel people, He poured out His personal burden to the Father yet concluded with those words, “Not my will, but Yours be done…” (Luke 22:42)

Jesus was willing to endure crucifixion because it was His Father’s will.  My recent issue didn’t involve torture – just inconvenience.  My recent dilemma didn’t include crucifixion – just irritation. 

Again, conviction.

How often do we exchange God’s will in our lives because we’re laser-focused on our own?  How many times do we close ourselves off to what God wants to teach us because we’re so busy clinging to what we want?

As I exited my recent internal theme park ride, I realized again how thankful I am that life doesn’t go my way 100% of the time!  How would I ever grow and learn?  How would I ever become more like Jesus?

And isn’t that the goal?  “Today, Jesus, not my will, but Yours be done…”

Until next time, Grace and Glory!