Yesterday, something started turning over in my mind.
I was listening to Reality Is Not What It Seems and hearing about the way people like Galileo, Newton, and Einstein tried to understand the nature of reality.
Gravity. Space. Time. Matter.
Newton even used the phrase “God’s sensorium” while wrestling with the mysterious space in which creation exists.
Then this morning, I opened My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers and read a sentence that stopped me:
“The only abiding reality is God Himself.”
Something clicked.
Maybe I have spent much of my life trying to control something I was never meant to control.
God Is Not Part of Reality
God is not simply another piece inside the universe.
He isn't one object among billions of other objects.
Scripture says:
“In Him we live and move and have our being.” — Acts 17:28
Creation exists because God sustains it.
Every breath.
Every moment.
Every sunrise.
Every opportunity.
Every person we encounter.
That doesn't mean creation is God. Christianity doesn't teach that.
It means creation is continuously dependent upon Him.
God is Creator.
We are creation.
And yet He invites us into relationship with Him.
That realization changes the way I see my life.
I Am Not the Creator
This may sound obvious.
But I don't always live like I believe it.
I try to control outcomes.
I replay mistakes.
I worry about money.
I think about opportunities I missed.
I wonder whether I made the wrong decision.
I imagine future problems and then mentally try to solve problems that don't even exist yet.
And somewhere underneath all of that is a quiet assumption:
It is all up to me.
But it isn't.
I am responsible for my choices.
I am responsible for how I treat people.
I am responsible for what I do with what God puts in my hands.
But I am not responsible for controlling reality.
That's God's territory.
My job is stewardship.
His job is sovereignty.
That distinction brings an incredible amount of freedom.
Maybe Pride Looks Different Than We Think
We usually think of pride as someone walking around saying:
“Look how great I am.”
But pride can be much quieter.
Pride can say:
I have to figure everything out.
I have to make this work.
I have to fix my past.
I have to control what happens next.
There's still an I sitting on the throne.
Surrender sounds different.
Father, I don't know what happens next. But You do.
Show me what You want me to do with this moment.
That doesn't mean doing nothing.
It means acting without pretending to be God.
This Is Why I Need Jesus
This morning I realized something else.
I cannot move freely into what God has for me while constantly dragging yesterday behind me.
Failure.
Regret.
Pain.
Things I've done.
Things done to me.
Decisions I wish I could change.
There comes a point where carrying those things stops being repentance and starts becoming imprisonment.
And this is where Jesus changes everything.
Christ doesn't tell me:
“Fix yourself and then come back.”
He says:
“Follow Me.”
Grace means my past does not have to determine my future.
Forgiveness means I don't have to spend the rest of my life trying to somehow pay God back.
Jesus already carried what I couldn't.
So maybe the path isn't:
Failure → guilt → fix myself → become worthy → move forward
Maybe it is:
Christ → grace → forgiveness → freedom → obedience → whatever God has next.
That's very different.
Stop Living Somewhere Else
Jesus said something fascinating when He was young:
“I must be about My Father's business.” — Luke 2:49
Oswald Chambers describes the Christian life as learning to live continually in our Father's house.
Not physically.
Consciously.
Aware of God.
Talking with Him.
Walking with Him.
Recognizing His presence in ordinary life.
Driving to work.
Sitting with your wife.
Playing with your children.
Building something.
Answering a phone call.
Making dinner.
Making a difficult decision.
Paying bills.
Helping someone.
We spend enormous amounts of our lives mentally somewhere else.
Yesterday.
Tomorrow.
What if.
If only.
Someday.
Meanwhile God is meeting us here.
Now.
What Are You Feeding Your Mind?
That made Philippians 4:8 hit differently this morning:
Think about what is true.
Noble.
Right.
Pure.
Lovely.
Admirable.
Excellent.
Praiseworthy.
Because what we repeatedly give our attention to eventually begins shaping the reality we experience internally.
Fear feeds one kind of life.
Resentment feeds another.
Comparison feeds another.
Truth feeds another.
Gratitude feeds another.
Love feeds another.
We aren't creating reality with our thoughts.
But our thoughts dramatically affect how we participate in the reality God has placed us in.
That distinction matters.
God Works Through Willing People
Here's the thought I keep coming back to:
I am not the Creator of this world.
But God can create through me when I surrender myself to Him.
A business can be built.
A family can be strengthened.
Someone can be encouraged.
A child can feel loved.
A marriage can heal.
Someone can discover Christ.
Something beautiful can exist tomorrow because today someone whispered:
“Father, use me.”
That's participation.
Not control.
And maybe that's what I've been learning all along.
You Don't Have to Force the Next Chapter
One of the devotionals I read this morning talked about Philip being driven out of Jerusalem and eventually finding himself in Samaria.
What looked like disruption became direction.
He didn't understand the whole story while he was living it.
Neither do we.
Sometimes the thing we're desperately trying to prevent may become the very road God uses.
Sometimes a closed door protects us.
Sometimes failure teaches us.
Sometimes pain softens us.
Sometimes an ending makes room for something we never would have chosen while holding onto the old thing.
We don't always know.
But we can know Who is with us.
And maybe faith isn't knowing exactly where God is taking us.
Maybe faith is trusting Him enough to take today's step.
My Prayer Right Now
Father,
Thank You for being God so I don't have to be.
Forgive me for the times I've tried to control everything around me because I was afraid of what might happen if I let go.
Help me release the things behind me that Jesus already carried.
Teach me to live awake to You.
Help me recognize that this moment — this ordinary moment right here — is where You have placed me.
Show me what is mine to do.
Give me the courage to do it.
And give me the faith to leave everything else in Your hands.
Use my life to create more love, beauty, truth, provision, healing, and goodness in this world.
I don't need to know the whole path.
I just want to walk with You.
In Jesus' name, amen.
The Forge
You don't have to create the future.
You don't have to repair the past.
You don't have to control reality.
God is already there.
Your responsibility is much simpler:
Remain present.
Receive grace.
Feed your mind truth.
Love the person in front of you.
Do the next faithful thing.
Trust the Father with the rest.
Built by Grace. Forged by the Father.