Giving it Over

God's Word is filled with passages that show the necessity of trusting God, but for most of us this is easier said than done. We tend to choose which areas of life we're willing to give over to Him and which ones we'd rather take care of on our own; but God doesn't ask us to trust Him when there's little at stake. He wants us to surrender everything to Him and trust Him with even the most important things in our lives.

We all have things we love and can't imagine our lives without - things like relationships, family, security, our futures, and so much more. We work hard to protect these things and keep them within our control because the thought of losing them is terrifying; but at some point our faith is put to the test. We come face to face with conflict and have to choose whether we will surrender it to God or attempt to handle it ourselves. In my life, the moments I tried to handle conflict on my own were always the moments I was most overwhelmed with worry and fear. I knew in my heart I couldn't control the outcome either way but part of me still wanted to try. I was essentially placing my love, trust, and hope in other things more than in Christ Himself. By failing to trust Him with my whole heart, I was really failing at loving Him with my whole heart.

I was challenged recently by a sermon I heard at Calvary Baptist Church in State College. The pastor explained how worry leaves our hearts dangerously unguarded. While we may think we're shielding ourselves from pain, we're actually increasing that chance by relying on ourselves more than God.

Matthew 6:26-27 says this: "Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"

In other words, God will always take care of us and carry our burdens for us if we let Him. It's not always easy and it might feel like we're making a sacrifice, but we can't forget the greater sacrifice He made by giving His own Son's life for us. We can't ever repay Him for that, but we can show our love and gratitude by giving our lives over to Him and trusting Him with all our hearts.