IS JESUS YOUR BOSS?
I Samuel 8:7c It is not you they have rejected as their king but me.
As a small boy Samuel’s mother gave him to Eli the high priest to raise as a Nazirite for life. Even as a small boy the Lord would come and speak to him. As he grew he became not only a spiritual leader, but he was also considered a judge that led politically. As Samuel grew old, his two sons began to have the same responsibilities as Samuel. Sad to say they did not lead with the same integrity spiritually or politically. Because of this the people of Israel wanted a king to lead them like other countries causing Samuel to be devastated. He certainly took it personally, but the Lord reminded him that the people didn’t reject him but rather God himself.
We will never know the hurt God has because of the rejection of him. This is not only constantly being done by people, but also by Satan and the other fallen angels. God never created anything with the intention of having it reject him or become evil. God created everything with a free will, so that everything could have the chance to love him and experience his love. I personally think that the doctrine of predestination as Calvin presented it was never the intention of God and is wrong. If God created everything with a predestined life without free will, then God would be unjust to punish anyone or anything for doing what he made them do! Even people who can be so unjust, would not do something like that. Romans 8:29 tells us, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” So God’s predestination came not in making everything preform according to a predesigned script, but rather God made everyone with the intention of becoming Christ-like in his nature or characteristics. We see this in the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is listed in Galatians 5:22,23 as, “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.” These are qualities that we will take with us to heaven to be with God forever. And these are characteristics as we see in II Cor 3:18 as transforming us in ever-increasing glory which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
I don’t think anyone likes rejection, and that includes God. I think this is why Satan and the powers of darkness have from the very beginning with Adam and Eve encouraging them and all of us to not trust God. The reason is if we can not trust God, how could we ever love him? And this is why in return God wants us to show us that we can trust him. God wants to show us that he is worthy to be loved.
When Israel rejected the rule of God for their lives, it was not any different than what Adam and Eve did in the garden. And it was nothing different than what billions of people have done since then. The thing is it wasn’t right then,and it is not right now! By rejecting God as our God, our King, our Lord or our Boss, we are disabling our ability to love God as he loves us.
Surprisingly this can even happen to Christians. (Lk 7:23) Because of our free will, at any given time we can harden our hearts towards God, and even turn away from him. We can give up our salvation! I know that you have heard as I have preachers say that, “ Once a person is saved they will always be saved,” and granted Romans 8:37-39 says that, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,” but we can willingly do it. How many Christians do you know that let other things control their lives? If we do like the Hebrews in Samuel’s day, we will never be happy. Nothing from this world can make us eternally happy and fulfilled like only God can. The question for the world and for us as well is; not only what will we exchange for being with God in heaven, but what are we willing to exchange for the love of God?
Prayer: Lord, is this why we must work our salvation with fear and trembling? (Phil 2:12) Please help us to always want you to be Lord or Boss of our life. Please help us to always love and trust you completely, giving you our heart, soul, mind, strength and body to do your will with. We love and trust you Jesus!
