Run or Ruin...

In the WINTER 2009 issue of Laity Connections, the opening article, Triumph in a Most Unexpected Way, was authored by Howard E. Butt, Jr., President, H. E. Butt Foundation. I read the article recently and had a "thought-provoking" moment as I read the following sentence which appears in the first paragraph on page 2 of the article -

"I realized that I needed to trust God to run my life."

As I read that sentence, the word "run" jumped off the page. My immediate thought was to think of the words that usually come to my mind as I ponder the concept of allowing God to "run" my life. I more frequently think of words such as guide, direct, lead, control, coordinate, manage, supervise, take care of... The list lengthens but does not include the word "run" as that connotes a level of control I'm not so sure I'm willing to relinquish - even to God. My list of words seems to allow for a bit of my input to come alongside God's direction. But "run" seems to remove my input in favor of all direction being turned over to God.

The next thought I had was to notice what it would take to turn the word "run" into the word "ruin". And you'll notice immediately that the letter "I" causes the word "run" to become the word "ruin". And isn't that exactly the point of what Howard E. Butt is saying when he writes about the need to "trust God to run" his life? His article makes a solid case for submitting "I" to the leadership of God in order that we might become more like Christ who is the perfect model of Servant-Leadership which scripture admonishes us to follow.

Philippians 2: 5-7a

Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,... he humbled himself...

So this morning as I share these thoughts, I prayerfully remind myself of the importance of allowing Christ to "run" my life. Hopefully I am moving closer to the spot which is encouraged by Paul for the Philippian believers:

Philippians 2: 3-5
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

Is the goal of Christ likeness in actions and attitude attainable? Only when I trust God to "run" my life.

May this be a day/week/month/year in which I allow God to run my life lest I ruin it.