God vs. Genie

I’ll bet you can name three or four incidences where you have lost relationships over misunderstandings.  This is so tragic, especially when friends or acquaintances never learn the truth in spite of your efforts to straighten things out.  This unnecessary loss...this craziness...is what drives me nuts in this life!  I spend way too much brain power trying to figure how to show people my truth. This is where the enemy gets his hooks in me. It was while worrying, mulling, and fretting over a particular instance where misunderstandings led to lost relationships that I read this passage.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV

[3] For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. [4] The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. [5] We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I have read this passage many times before but today it pointed to something new.  This was the gem that I discovered. I am wasting my battles on a war that is insignificant. Our divine appointment is to demolish those mindsets that set themselves up against God, not against ourselves or our own reputation. Our battles in this life should be about helping people understand God for who he is.  So how about demolishing every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God? That IS what matters! So please play along with me in this blog as I follow God’s word to me.

When I began thinking about it, there are so many false things people believe about God, too many to mention. I will address one misunderstanding and call it God vs. Genie. By the name, you probably know where I’m going with this. A little known fact about me is that I have seen every episode of I Dream of Jeannie at least once. If you were not so fortunate, let me tell you about Jeannie.  It started with an unsuspecting astronaut who, in his space travels, stumbled across a beautiful bottle.  Of course this was the bottle of a real live beautiful bombshell genie named Jeannie.  The very kind astronaut who possessed quite a bit of integrity, decided to keep her but as a secret part of his life.  Gradually, the integrity of the astronaut deteriorated as he learned to depend on Jeannie's skills.  And worse yet, he sometimes forgot to let her out of the bottle except when he got into a jam.  Of course in the end, love overcame and they got married in the last season.  Then there was Dallas... But I regress.

So many times we treat God as a genie.  Oh yeah, we would deny this but think about the way we treat our relationship with God. We pray for something we want badly and if we get it, we attend church that Sunday and maybe even sing a little louder and wave a hand. This is us, mistaking our precious Savior for Aladdin's big blue Genie.  Tell me you have never used God when you were in a tight spot, then when things were good, you place him on a shelf to forget him until the next jam. Oh how we miss the point!  

What makes the idea of a Genie so appealing is that I am in control. He does what I tell him whether he likes it or not. But realize that the Genie is my slave and there is no relationship between us. It is an idol of my creation. Yes, I am in control but do I know what tomorrow brings? Neither does my genie. He is limited by my own vision. His protection is restricted to my awareness. He can only protect me from what I see coming. The more I depend on his magic, the more impatient and self centered I become.  He teaches me nothing. With him, knowledge is a one way street. Stick with the genie-god and I will never grow and mature. 

How do I go about letting God out of my Genie bottle and quit treating him like a forgotten bread machine I got for Christmas?  Jesus addressed this to his disciples in Matthew 16:24.  He said, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me". So this means to surrender your rights to control your life daily. 

What can I expect if I let God out of the genie bottle of my making? First and most importantly, He will be in control, not me. I cooperate with him in his plan. I am his child. He is my loving Father. He protects me and He knows what is coming. He works in ways I never imagined because his knowledge is not limited. He knows my heart better than I know myself. I get to have a relationship with him. He lets me learn the hard way. He is not pushy or manipulative. He does not control me past the point I am willing to allow. He teaches me. I will not be stuck in my ways. I get to grow, change and make a difference. He is patient with me. He has rewards for me.  He knows no boundaries or end. He existed before me and is eternal. And unlike a Genie, He is real and He loves me. 

Oh Lord, please forgive me for treating you this way.  I want you to be in control, not me. I surrender all.