The Open Hand

I am always fascinated with the fact that God puts limitations on himself because of His love and care for us. I was reminded of that this morning as I read out of the book of Isaiah:

Isaiah 30:18 18 So the LORD must wait for you to come to him so he can show you his love and compassion. For the LORD is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.

I guess it all comes down to the definition of “real” love, where the object of our love has total choice of whether to return it or not.

Here is another Bible verse to take with you today:

“Think of yourselves the way Jesus thought of Himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human, He stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, He lived a selfless obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death-and the worst kind of death at that: a crucifixion.” ( Philippians 2:1-8, The Message)

John Maxwell says, “To unravel this death grip of selfishness, we have to pry our fingers off of what we are holding onto.” It means holding loosely to the stuff in our lives. Keeping our hand open instead of clasped tightly.

I wonder what things God might use in my life today if I offered everything I have to Him?

It’s really all His anyway.