Accept God's Best

Matthew 16:24-26 (King James Version)

24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Matthew 16:24-26 (The Message)

24-26Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?

Word in Action:

Accept God’s best.

Jesus is the best protector. He protects us and those we love way better than we ever could. So why do we worry so much? Why are we so burdened by cares, fears, and uncertainties?

Usually, our worrying is birth out of good intentions. We want the best for others and we want the best for ourselves. However, we have to make sure that we don’t falsely assume that our idea of “the best” actually is “the best.” The word “best” can be defined as having good qualities in the highest degree. We may have a “best” plan in mind. This so-called “best” plan has more merit, more value, and greater opportunity to produce good outcomes than any other plan that we have considered. BUT, we cannot be so quick to judge based on our limited knowledge.

God has a plan that is better than our best. We must learn to deny our natural inclination to engage our highly limited reasoning process in evaluating the plans and purposes of the Lord. We may not always immediately know why He desires us to move in a certain direction. We may not always immediately know why a certain situation did not work out the way we thought it should. We may not always immediately know why we are subject to certain experiences. But what we CAN always immediately know is that regardless of the uncertainties that we face, if we are completely surrendered to God then He WILL perform HIS best in our lives.

Romans 8:28 assures us that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. Responding to God’s call and agreeing to be used for His purpose will often require acts of self-denial in order to follow Christ. However, His promise is true as stated in Matthew 16:25. In denying ourselves, we find life in Christ. We exchange our “best” for His best. Which would you prefer to have?

Declaration of Faith:
I surrender to Christ, exchanging my best for His best!

Song of Worship: