The True Source of Security - Life of Christ Part 62

Now, I cut some odds out of the paper the other day. I thought these were kind of interesting. Listen to them. Here are the odds.

Ready? Here's the odds that you will undergo an IRS audit this year. One in a hundred. Ah, that's not real good, is it?

I don't like that. Odds that you will eventually die in a car crash. One in a hundred and twenty-five. The odds that you'll be a victim of violence in the suburbs. One in two thousand. The odds that you'll develop a brain tumor. One in twenty-five thousand. The odds that you'll die in a fire this year. One in forty thousand. The odds that you'll win the state lottery. Oh, there's a good one. One in four million. Ugh.

Why can't we switch that with the IRS? Here's the one I was really interested in. The odds that you'll be killed in an airplane crash. One in four point six million. Wow.

Those are pretty good odds in our favor, huh? And yet, I find today everybody's pretty nervous about air travel, huh? You know, September the 8th, U.S. air flight. Boom. Everybody dead. October 31st, that American Airlines commuter plane. Boom.

Everybody dead. Then did you read on November 14th that plane was taken off from JFK? You know, that little commuter plane and just lifted up and then the hatch blew off?

Had to land it. I mean, nobody died, but I don't think hatches blowing off is a great idea. You know what I'm saying? I wouldn't want to be on one of them doing that. I went to the International Airline Passengers Association just this past Tuesday to stay off commuter planes with less than thirty-one seats, period. And they said, and I quote, don't even consider flying one of them at night or in bad weather, end of quote.

Well, I do both, and so I thought, golly, I probably ought to thank God I'm still here. Then there was an article in USA Today called High Anxiety in the Skies that talked about how insecure people are feeling right now flying, about the fact that airlines report, it said in the article, that there was a lady, for example, who told her husband he couldn't fly again until he checked and made sure his life insurance was paid up, and how would that make you feel? Lots of people have sworn off flying altogether, a la John Madden, I'll take the bus, you know. How many of you folks, I'm just curious, how many of you are flying somewhere over the Thanksgiving holidays? Raise your hand.

Okay, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, and God bless you. You say, Lon, what are you doing? What is wrong with you? Are you sick?

I mean, what is this? Well, I'm trying to make you feel a little insecure. Say, well, pal, you're doing a bang up job. Well, I'm trying to because I'm going to talk to you this morning about security and about insecurity and about the fact that there's nothing in this world that can provide real security, so where are we going to get it? You know, Boeing has a sign in its aircraft factory that says that somebody's life depends on you. And then, you know, they do a good job of making sure the FAA does that all these mechanics work on these planes and everything like that, but I, you know, I still wonder what if the guy who worked on my plane was on Monday and he was just shaking off a drunk or something, I mean, you know, and didn't, you know, didn't even check the, I mean, I worry about that. Can you worry about that kind of stuff you get on planes? Say, Lon, go on.

Okay, let's go on. So we're going to talk about security and insecurity this morning, and I want to direct your attention to Luke 18 where there's a passage here that really addresses this whole issue of where do we really find our security? Is it in the guy at Boeing who did a great job? Is it in the mechanic who did a good job on the airplane?

Or do we have a bigger source of security than all of that? Well, let's look and see. It says here that verse 18, a certain ruler came to Jesus and asked him, good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said, well, why do you call me good?

Nobody's good except God alone. So now, Lon, I've always wondered, why would Jesus make a comment like that? Well, it's because this guy was coming and asking, how do I get eternal life? And of course, the answer is directly related to the fact that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, that he went to the cross, he died for man's sin. And then in order to get eternal life, you've got to come to grips with the fact that Jesus Christ was God and come to grips with what he did for us. So Jesus is saying to this guy, hey, I'm just not some good teacher.

I'm God. Now, can you deal with that? I mean, are we ready to deal with this here? Because that's the answer to your question. But this man's not prepared to deal with that.

And the way I know that is because of the way he asked the question. He's operating on a totally different wavelength. He's not interested in mercy. He's not interested in grace. He's not interested in Jesus doing anything for him.

He wants to know what he can do. What can I do to inherit eternal life? And he comes to Jesus determined to work his way to heaven, determined to earn his way into heaven. And he says to Jesus, hey, Jesus, measure my qualifications.

Tell me how I'm doing. Give me the right task to perform. Give me the right quest that I can go out and do so that I can get eternal life. Where's the Holy Grail that I'm supposed to go get? Where's the dragon I'm supposed to go kill God so that I can become immortal?

Now, there was no way to convince this guy of any other approach. And so Jesus answers his question. He said, OK, if you're determined to try to work your way into heaven, here's the answer. Verse 20. Jesus says, you know the commandments, meaning the Ten Commandments. Do not commit adultery. Do not murder. Do not steal. Do not give false testimony.

Honor your father and mother to these. Matthew adds that Jesus said and love your neighbor as yourself, because if you love your neighbor as yourself, you're not going to do any of these things to him. Loving your neighbor as yourself is the summation of all of these laws. Because if you love your neighbor, you're not going to commit adultery with his wife. You're not going to steal from him.

You're not going to murder him. Now, what was Jesus really trying to say to this man? He was saying to him, hey, look, it is possible for you to earn your way to heaven.

It is possible for you to work your way in. All you have to do is obey the Old Testament law perfectly. Jesus throws at this guy commandments five, six, seven, eight, nine and says, you obey them perfectly and you can work your way to heaven. But don't forget, and this is important, it's an all or nothing deal. It's either 100 percent obedience or you don't make it. James Chapter two says, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point, just one point is guilty in the sight of God of breaking the whole thing.

So, friends, it's an all or nothing deal. But Jesus says, if you can keep the whole law and if you never stumble at any part of it, yes, that's how you can work your way in. Now, this is a good point for us to stop and ask, can anybody really do this? I mean, is this possible? Is this even within the realm of possibility that anybody could really meet that standard?

I don't think so. I mean, what about when you were infants and in the middle of the night and you woke up? And if you really loved your neighbor as yourself, you would have said, I'm a little hungry, but, you know, mom and dad worked hard all day for me. They changed diapers. They washed dishes. They fixed meal. They need their sleep. I'm not so hungry.

I can't kick over and kind of sleep till some reasonable hour like seven or eight or nine. And if you really loved your neighbor like yourself, that's exactly what you would have done. But what did you do? You didn't do that. You got up in the middle of the night, some ungodly hour like two or three o'clock in the morning, and you went, and you wouldn't stop either until finally mom or dad crawled out of the bed down the hallway, begging for mercy in the room, stuck a bottle or something in your mouth, just kind of sat there, you know, and hope they didn't drop you.

You know what I'm saying? Hey, friends, if you were working your way to heaven, forget it. As an infant, you blew it. You didn't love your neighbor as yourself.

You say, well, now, Lon, wait a minute, wait a minute. God gives special dispensation to infants. Okay. Well, how about toddlers?

Does he give special dispensation to two-year-olds? No, no, no, no. Make me. You can't make me.

Yeah, goodbye, heaven. Well, no, two-year-olds get special dispensation, too. Okay, maybe they do. What about teenagers?

Honor your father and your mother? Uh-uh, trouble. I was out walking with my teenager not too long ago, and I noticed no matter how slow I walked, he always walked slower.

You ever been into one of these things? And I kept trying to slow down to catch up with him, and he kept slowing down more, and finally I turned to him and said, you don't really want to walk next to me, do you? I mean, I'm not stupid.

I mean, you know, I can figure this out. You don't really want to walk next to me, do you? And he said, Dad, you don't understand. He said, when you're my age, kids aren't even supposed to like their parents. Okay. Honor your father and your mother?

How'd you do as a teenager? Goodbye, heaven. And guys, you know that gal you looked at at work the other day? You say, were you there? No, I wasn't there.

I wasn't there, but I'm a guy, and I understand, and Jesus said if a man looks on a woman and lusts after her in his heart, he's already committed adultery with her in his heart in the sight of God, even if you had your salvation the last week, it's gone. Remember, it's an all or nothing deal. You say, well, Lon, according to the standard that you're giving out, nobody in the world can keep that standard. Bingo. Bingo.

That's the whole point. Plan A, earning your way to heaven can't work. Never has work. Never will work.

Nobody can do it. That's why, friends, God had to come up with Plan B. Plan B is this, Titus chapter 3, verse 5.

Not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but by his own mercy, God saved us. That's Plan B. Plan B means admitting that we can't do it, confessing our inability and casting ourselves on the mercy of Jesus Christ and on what he did for us on the cross. That's Plan B.

And thank God there is a Plan B because nobody can do Plan A. Now, I want to stop at this point and say, if you're here this morning and you're trying to work your way to heaven, you've never trusted Christ in a real and personal way. And maybe you're trying to work your way there through religious works or through, you know, good society works or through human rights works.

And there's nothing wrong with trying to do nice things for the world. That's good. But friends, I got to tell you, I hope you'll listen to what we're saying here this morning to what God is saying. You can't make it that way. Plan A won't work. You've already lost it. It won't work. It's all or nothing and you already blew it.

And I hope you'll really consider the fact you need to trade Plan A in. It's defective for Plan B, which is trusting Christ in a real and personal way. Something to think about.

Well, let's go on with the story. And what did this man talking to Jesus say? Well, look with me at verse 21.

And it says in verse 21, this man looked at Jesus and he said, all these things, all these commandments you've just given me, I have broken from my youth up. Good answer. Good answer. Jesus, is there a hope for a person like me? I can't do this.

Is there a Plan B? Good answer. Good answer. He said, Lon, wait a minute. That isn't what he said. Well, I know. I'm giving you the alternate reading.

I'm giving you the answer he should have said, the answer that Jesus was wanting him to say, the answer that if he'd have said it, he and Jesus could have done business together on the spot. But you're right. That's not what he said.

Look, he said, all these things I have kept from my youth up. Now, could that possibly be true? Of course not. Of course not. But rather than argue with him, Jesus says, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm just going to expose you. I won't argue with you.

Let me just show you where you're really at, though. And so Jesus, when he heard this, verse 22, he said to him, you still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give it to the poor. And you'll have treasure in heaven. Come and follow me. Now, this is commandment number 10. Remember, I told you he gave him five, six, seven, eight, nine.

This is number 10. Thou shalt not covet. Thou shalt not be greedy. Thou shalt not hoard things for yourself. And Jesus said, all right, rather than preach commandment number 10 to you, I'm going to give you a chance to live it if you've kept all these from your youth up.

Let's see how you do. Go give everything you've got to the poor. There's all kinds of needy people in Israel, all kinds of poor people in Israel that could use your money. Go, if you love your neighbor as yourself, you go give them that money that you like so much and you come follow me.

Ooh. And when he heard this, verse 23, he became very sad. Matthew says he went away sad because he was a man who had a lot of money. You know, we never hear about this guy anywhere in the Bible again. I'd like to hope that maybe he went home, thought about it, slept on it, came back to Jesus and said, you know, you were really right. You know, I was really wrong. I didn't keep all these things from my youth up.

What can you do to help me? But the Bible never says he did. And I have no reason to believe that he did. And tragically, this is where it ends.

I like what Warren Wiersby, the great commentator, said. And I quote, the rich young ruler may be the only person ever in the New Testament who came to the feet of Jesus and went away in worse condition than he came. And went away in worse condition than he came. You say, Lon, before we leave this, I got a question here, though. Something's really confusing me. Is Jesus saying here, you've got to give all your money away to go to heaven? I mean, that's what he said to this guy. Go give all your money away and come follow me and you'll have eternal life.

Is Jesus saying that we've got to give all our money away or we can't go to heaven? Is that the teaching here? Well, no, that isn't.

And if you believe that, you miss the whole point. Friends, this is a unique test for a unique man. This isn't for everybody in the whole world.

This was for this guy. Jesus is not saying that you have to give up all your money to go to heaven. But what Jesus is saying is that you do have to stop relying on your own spiritual performance in order to go to heaven. And that's what he was trying to do with this man. Do you understand? He was trying to bring him to the end of relying on his own spiritual performance to get him into heaven and bring him to the place where he realized his spiritual performance wasn't good enough.

It wasn't adequate enough. And he needed Christ personally instead. Do you understand what he was doing? Now, if you're a Christian today, God did this same thing in your life. He may not have done it with money, but in some way, God brought you to the end of yourself, either in your career or in your health or in your family. Where you said, uh-oh, I'm in over my head. Because otherwise you never would have come to Christ. People can't do business with God until they're willing to admit they're in over their head.

That's where he was trying to bring this guy. Do you understand? Now, that's the end of the passage. But let's ask the really important question.

What's the really important question? So what? Yes, so what? Okay, good. All right. If you've been reading about the baseball strike, you guys have been keeping up with that.

Is that stupid or what? Just still negotiating. I want to take a little poll, okay? This is a poll.

Not scientific, but it's going to be fun. How many of you believe that the players are being greedy? Raise your hand. Interesting.

How many of you feel the owners are being greedy? Raise your hand. Some of the same of you raise your hands of the same people. All right.

How many of you really don't care and want to know what this has to do with anything? Raise your hand. All right.

Okay. Well, it really does. It does have something to do with this because this past week the schedule for 1995 came out, if there's going to be a 1995. And on August the 18th of 1995, the Baltimore Orioles are playing an away game in Oakland, California. You say, well, big whoop.

So what? Well, August the 18th is the new date on which Cal Ripken, Jr. is scheduled to break the all-time record for consecutive games set by Lou Gehrig over 50 years ago. And so the Orioles went to the American League and asked the American League to change the whole schedule so that they could have that whole week at home to lead up to this climactic event when he breaks that record. I don't know whether the league will do it, but that's unprecedented.

Nobody goes to the league and asks them to change the schedule, but the Orioles did. Now, that's a pretty amazing thing, though. I bet you they will do it because this is a record people thought would never be broken. You know, there's some records in baseball nobody's ever going to break. 56-game hitting streak? Joe DiMaggio?

Uh-uh. Nobody's ever going to break that. 516 career victories? Cy Young? Never. Never happened. How about two no-hitters in a row?

Johnny Van De Meer? I don't think so. And this was another one of those records that people said nobody would ever break.

Ever. 2,130 consecutive games? Do you realize the next closest person under Cal Ripken has less than 150 consecutive games?

That's how far the drop-off is? Can you fathom that? June 2, 1925, Yankee first baseman Wally Pipp had a headache. Came out of the game, they put in a young rookie named Lou Gehrig, and Lou Gehrig didn't come out again for 14 years. Now, the lesson of that is never admit you got a headache when you're playing first base. That's how I see it. You know, you just stay in.

Nobody ever replaces you. 14 years this guy played without missing a game. They called him the Iron Horse. And in 1938, if you would have looked while this streak was still going, if you would have asked him, I'll bet you Lou Gehrig would have told you that nobody felt more secure in their own physical health and in their own physical stamina than he did. The Iron Horse.

You know what? Two years later, he was dead. Two years later, he was dead from a disease he'd never even heard of before.

Boy, that'll shake your security, won't it? And then there's Paul Azinger. He felt pretty secure, didn't he, in his golf career until he got cancer and now out the window. What a rising pro. And then there was Tom Foley who felt pretty secure in his political career about two weeks ago. He's history, although he's going to get $125,000 a year pension. Did you read that?

You know, but anyway, that's another subject. Then there was Ivana Trump. She felt pretty secure in her marriage until Marla showed up.

And then there was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Man, you couldn't even spend all the money this woman had if you wanted to. How secure could you feel against life's uncertainties than with the kind of fortune she had? But hey, did it protect her against lymphoma?

No, she's gone. Friends, you know what? Everybody in the world wants to feel secure, don't they? Everybody in the world wants to feel safe. We all want to feel protected and insulated against the uncertainties and the bumps and the bruises of life.

And most of us spend our whole life trying to figure out some strategy to get there, whether it's through money like this young man or whether it's through career or whether it's through political power or whether it's through fame and fortune and prestige or family or whatever. But I mean, we work our whole lives to try to get secure. Look what the people out there in the world system, the people in your office, the people in your neighborhood, what are they working for to try to feel secure? And then every one of us finds out that everything the world offers us for security fails sooner or later.

It all fails. You know, about three years ago, I felt pretty secure. I was in a career that was rising and doing well. I had a healthy family. I had healthy children, three healthy boys. I was beginning to travel a little bit and speak at some conferences.

I seemed to be well regarded by my peers, you know, who were in the same business as I'm in. We were beginning to feel some freedom at home. You know, the kids were getting a little older and, you know, it's kind of like no more diapers, throw the baby furniture away, get rid of the high chair.

Right. You know, buy a sports car, do something. We even get a little bank account together. And then all of a sudden, three years ago, God sent me a little girl with intractable seizures and we watched every bit of that security go right out the window. Every bit of it. Bank account to zero, freedom out the window, everything gone just like that. And I learned a real important lesson and that is there's nothing in this life that's secure.

Nothing this life offers that's secure. Except Jesus Christ. Except Jesus Christ. What was God trying to do in this young man's life that we read about here? What was the man's real problem? Why did he turn his back on Christ and walk away like that? Do you ever think about that?

You say, well, Lon, it's easy. The Bible says here he did it because he had a lot of money. Yeah, but friends, the problem was not that he had a lot of money. The problem was that his security was based in his money.

Understand the difference? Abraham had a lot of money, but his security wasn't in his money. This man's security was in his money. And when Jesus said to him, go give away all your money and come follow me, what Jesus was really asking him to do was to trade in a source of security, his money that didn't work, that was going to fail him anyway for the only real source of security in the whole world, which was Jesus Christ himself. Jesus was trying to get the man to transfer his trust from something that was going to let him down to someone who would never let him down. But the man didn't have the wisdom and he didn't have the courage to do it. He couldn't let go of that money.

And he didn't realize that the greatest source of security in the universe was staring him right in the face. Jesus was not trying to hurt this man. Jesus was trying to help this man. And that's why Jesus said, you know, when you've got a lot of money, it's just too easy to trust the money. That's why Jesus said, verse 24, how hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And the disciples said, well, then, Lord, who can be delivered if a rich man can't? And Jesus said, what's impossible with men is possible with God.

God can still crack through that and get to them, but it's not easy. And friends, isn't it true that all of us are just like the rich man? Give us anything as humans. And isn't it true our first tendency is to go and hold on? Give us some money. What do we do? Hold on. Give us some material possessions. Oh, we hold on. Give us a job that's going somewhere. Oh, we hold on.

Give us a family that's doing well. Oh, we hold on. Give us good help. Oh, we hold on.

Give us anything. And what do we do? We hold it.

Because we need security so badly. Jesus is saying all that stuff won't work. It's Jesus Christ. Let me show you some promises that he makes us before I close this morning. First, a promise about eternal life. I mean, hey, you want security about eternal life?

God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Hey, that's security. But I want you to also turn in the Old Testament back to the Psalms with me.

And you've got to hurry if you would. Psalm 55, it's page 406 if you're using our copy of the Bible. But look at some of the promises that Jesus gives us regarding security in this life. Where is the real source of security? The Bible says that the real source of security in life is having Jesus Christ as your personal savior, Lord, protector, guide, shepherd and friend, putting all of your trust in him.

And that's what brings real security. Watch Psalm 55, verse 22. Cast your cares on the Lord, the Bible says, and he will sustain you. He will never let the righteous fall. Flip back with me to Psalm 112. Psalm 112.

Look what he says here. It says, verse one, blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commandments. Verse six, surely that person will never be shaken. They will be remembered forever. That person will have no fear of bad news.

Why? Because bad news is just good news that hadn't happened yet. God's going to turn it into good anyway. He'll have no fear of bad news because why? His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart, verse eight, is secure.

Hey, there's our word. His heart is secure. He'll have no fear, and in the end, he will look in triumph on his foes. Turn with me to Psalm 121.

121. The psalm starts by asking, where does my help come from? Verse two, my help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.

Now look at the security he promises. Verse three, he will not let your foot slip. He who watches over you will not slumber. He who watches over you will neither slumber nor sleep.

He's up all night while you're sleeping watching you. The Lord watches over you. He'll be your shade at your right hand. The sun won't harm you by day.

The moon won't harm you by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm. He'll watch over your life.

He'll preserve it. He'll watch over your coming in and your going out from this time forth and forevermore. Folks, that's security.

That's security. God's bigger than your boss. God's bigger than your career. God's bigger than your bank account. God's bigger than any virus. He's bigger than any bacteria. He's bigger than anything in the universe, and if he has a mind to say he'll watch over you and keep you from harm, he's got the power to do it, and that's what he says.

Now, that's security. Jesus said, I'll never leave you and I'll never forsake you. So we can be confident and say, the Lord is my helper. I won't be afraid. What can people do to me with God is my helper?

Hebrews 13, 9. So, Lon, what are you really trying to say to us? What I'm really trying to say is that Jesus Christ is trying to bring you and me to the place that he was trying to bring this young man to if we're Christians, where we're willing to replace any and every source of security we've ever trusted with just him. Let me close by asking you a question.

You say, Lon, how can I know how good I'm doing with this? Well, I'll give you a little question here. Here's the question. What is it in your life or in my life as Christians that we would not be willing, that we couldn't give up if God asked us to? If God asked you to give up your health, could you do it? Could you voluntarily say, God, if that's what you want, go ahead?

You say, well, Lon, I couldn't do that. I like being able to get up in the morning and go out of the house and go when I feel like going and do what I feel like doing and my health makes me feel secure. Well, how about your career or your business? You say, well, Lon, you know, I love my business. My business gives me my attaboys.

It makes me feel good. You know, I can't give up my career. I don't want to be fired. I can't take a pink slip.

My job makes me feel secure. How about your looks? You know, what if you were in some kind of horrible accident that disfigured you?

Would you be willing to do that if God asked you to? You say, well, I mean, I like the way I look. I mean, I like looking fairly normal, you know. I mean, I feel secure feeling that way.

I'd feel really insecure if I didn't look right. Let me ask you the question another way. Where are you and I finding our security in other places besides Jesus Christ alone? You say, oh, Lon, that's a scary question. Yeah, it is.

I got an even scarier one. Are you and I willing to let God go to work and purify our hearts in those areas? That's a really scary question because you know how God purifies our hearts?

Usually it's by taking those sources of security that we're holding on to so tight and prying our fingers loose and we crash and burn. That's usually how God does it and that's tough. Something very interesting I want to share with you as I close and that is in Matthew's Gospel and Mark's Gospel. When the rich young ruler said all these things I've kept from my youth up, it says in those Gospels that Jesus looked at him and Jesus loved him.

Isn't that interesting? And that's why Jesus then went on to try to expose him, expose the wrong sources of security that he had. And you know, I don't think that that guy probably thought this was a very loving conversation. I don't think he walked away and said, oh, man, how much God loves me. That was a great conversation. But what he didn't understand is Jesus really did love him.

He was trying to get him to the point of giving him real security. And you know, when God goes to work in our lives, ripping down all those other things we're trusting, we don't usually think he's loving us either. We get mad at God. We drag our feet. We accuse God.

We say, how can you do this? You're taking away my business. You're taking away my job. My bank account went to zero.

I lost somebody I love. You're not loving me. Well, hold on. Yes, he is. He is. Because he's trying to pry out of your fingers all the sources of security that aren't going to work and replace them with just him.

He is loving you. You and I just don't have the wisdom to see it sometimes. I had a man years ago who said to me something I never forgot. I didn't understand it for a long time, but I never forgot it.

He said, Lon, you know what? Jesus Christ is all we really need. But he said, sometimes we never realize Jesus is all we need till Jesus is all we got.

That's a pretty heavy comment. I never forgot it. It wasn't until recently I really understood it. Because there have been times recently where I have felt like Jesus was all I had. Everything else was gone. There was nothing else to hold on to. Nothing. No money. Nothing.

Gone. And you know what I found? You say, Lon, did you find that was a painful experience? Yes, sir, I did. Did you find that it hurt? Yes, ma'am, I did. Did you volunteer to go through it again?

No, sir, I would not. But nonetheless, I'll tell you what I discovered. I discovered that when Jesus is all you got, you find out that Jesus is all you needed anyway. He's so faithful. He's all you needed anyway.

All the rest of it was just a mirage. You didn't need it as long as you had Christ. But you've got to often go to the point that he's all you got before you understand that. I'll bet some of you guys are in process. I'll bet some of you guys God is trying to strip away from some of you sources of security that aren't going to work. And, man, you're fighting like an old possum that's cornered, snarling back at God.

Hey, make life easy on yourself. Understand that God loves you. That he's not doing this because he hates you.

It's because he loves you. And cooperate with him. Let him build you into a man or a woman of God. Let him teach you that he's all you really need anyway. And if it's difficult and it's painful, so what? If you come out as a man or a woman of God, it'll be worth it.

If you're in process, let God love you through and let God teach you what he needs to. The only real source of security in the world, Jesus Christ himself. Let's pray. Father, forgive us, Lord, for being so prone to depending on and finding our security in everything else in this world except you. Lord, I don't know why we do it. We're just wired that way as humans. And it seems like no matter how many times you teach us, we keep forgetting the lessons.

At least I do. But I thank you that you love us. And I thank you that you're determined to teach us that Jesus Christ is the only real source of security anywhere in the universe. That to hold onto anything else is a dead-end street.

It's a formula to self-destruct. And even though those lessons are sometimes painful, I thank you that you love us enough, you're determined to help us learn them. For people here who are in process, Lord, like I am, give us the wisdom and the perspective that we need to work with you, not against you.

To cooperate so that you can really build us into the men and women of God that you want to. Growing up isn't easy, Lord. It isn't easy for my teenagers and it isn't easy for us as your children. But thank you, you're a loving Heavenly Father who holds our hand, even through the tough times. And thank you that you're determined to make us into adults who walk with Christ. Teach us these lessons, I pray, Lord, so that we can be of better use to you and to other people. And happier and free as individuals ourselves. We commit ourselves to you now, in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you.