Firstly she opined we should give up the need to be right. Ahh, that's a tough call indeed. The natural human response is to fight to the death for our 'rights'. We have everything from human rights, gay rights, minority rights, women's rights (hmmm, never hear much about men's rights though), civil rights, God-given rights. We defend our rights to freedom of the individual, we dispute over land rights, we even question people's rights to call God by a certain name. We lodge tons of police reports over alleged abuse of this or that right. Some of us even go to the extent of brandishing weapons or showing certain parts of the human anatomy in demonstrating for our rights. Yep, it's all about rights in this world. But interestingly there was a guy who was so right, yet chose to keep silent when pushed into a corner. As He stood before the highest ruler of the land, accused of 'many things' by religious priests and elders, Jesus made no reply, not even to a single charge (Mat 27:13-14). The King of kings and the Lord of lords was put on trial and preferred public disgrace instead of standing up for His rights. Was it cowardice? No way. A man who went on to endure crucifixion with such quiet dignity and inner strength is no coward.
Why on earth then did Jesus not speak up to defend Himself? Or at least get some hot-shot passionate lawyer to speak on His behalf? Isn't it illuminating that despite the absence of rebuttal, the judge found "no basis for a charge against Him"? (Luke 23:4). I guess God is telling us there is no need to get hung up about being right, because what is right is always right. After all, whether or not we believe God doesn't negate who He is since He is always right. I am reminded that in a human court of law, the one who makes an allegation bears the burden of proving it, whereas the accused can choose to remain silent. Therefore if anyone contends that there is no God, let him so prove it. It's not for God to prove otherwise, for God doesn't need to prove Himself. Yet the beauty of it all is God did in fact condescend to do just that - by sending Jesus Christ, in whom all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form (Colossians 2:9). And so it was that Jesus merely stood silent before His accusers; God had revealed Himself already, proof in the flesh.
If we can accept that Truth, then the second rule becomes easier to apply - that we really should stop trying to control everything. That's apt to be a nightmare for control freaks, like I used to be. I still have problems to this day of 'letting go and letting God be God. But I can honestly say I have learnt to relax my grip on my life, my kids, my concerns, my money...all the stuff that I call mine. Becoz the reality is I don't know whether I will get up alive from bed tomorrow morning. Heck, I can't even control my eye from blinking once every 5 seconds the way it's designed to (that by the way works out to 17,000 times daily and 6.25 million times in a year - mind boggling indeed) If I don't know how these basic things work, who am I to question how the Creator of heaven and earth runs the universe? As God reminded Job, "Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? ...have you ever given orders to the morning or shown the dawn its place?..have the gates of death been shown to you? ..will the one who contends with Almighty God correct Him? Let him who accuses God answer Him!" (Job 38-40). Yet man continue to refuse to submit to God's sovereignity in misguided self-deception that we can do without God and be masters of our own destiny. How poor a destiny it would be, missing the real Master's touch who promised 'For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper and never to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future' (Jeremiah 29:11). If only we would dare take God at His word and let Him take over the wheel of our life, we wouldn't be driving around in circles and kidding ourselves we are getting somewhere.
To make it big, the author says we should not confine ourselves to thinking small. Certainly that's what separates the mediocre from the excellent. Still no matter how smart a human brain , it can't beat the One who created the brain. "For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength" (1 Corinthians 1:25). As is written, He is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20). The problem is not with God; the problem is man makes God too small. We write Him off as an inconsequential 'something out there' who can't/won't act the way we want Him to act (by the way, that's a job better suited for Santa Claus, not God) . So we carry on with our 'business as usual'. We think prayer is merely some psychological feel-good exercise, which makes absolutely no difference to what's gonna happen anyway. Que Sera Sera, whatever will be will be. Since there's seemingly no point bugging God, there's correspondingly no need to bother about Him either.
Ahh, but if only we "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ", surely we would want "to know this love that surpasses all knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18-19). A love that knows no bounds. A divine love that hounds after the human heart. A love that wills the best for the creature beloved. At the cross Jesus held out His hands, inviting all to embrace His love. Love is the biggest 'business' of God, and His love never fails. All of life's 'business' involves risks after all. "The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow but he simply cannot learn and feel and grow and change and love and live" (Leo F.Buscaglia). Here's another good one - "Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore" (Andre Gide). If we can take risks in business, how come we don't dare take a risk on God?
"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love" - 1 Corinthians 13:13
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