Who's Will?

So as I struggled through my horrible attitude the other day, and I do mean horrible! God whispered something so simple yet so profound I had to share it with everyone (well the two people who read my blog--my mom and my hubby!).  He asked me a very simple question Who's will do you want for your life? I stopped and very quickly responded "your's of course" in the best Southern Baptist voice I could muster...and then like a curtain closing,  conviction consumed my heart, and God asked again, Really Rachel, do you really want MY will?  Of course God knew the deep dark ugly truth to this answer. I ultimately want my will and even worse God revealed that I want my will to be orchestrated by Him and then I want an Almighty God to pretend that it was His will (Does that even make sense?).

In all honestly I don't want to have to think about how hard God's will may be. What sacrifices of the flesh I may have to make along the way. My selfish heart shutters at the inconveniences that may occur in my life to follow His plan. However, an important aspect of being a follower of Christ is the death to self, more specifically the death to one's own will.  In essence my life is not my own anymore. This is an essential part of being a Christian, and sometimes it gets glossed over when one is being witnessed to.  I guess it would not make for a popular track to hand to people.

God's Word though is very clear on this matter in Matthew 16:24-25:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
In John 12:24-25 "Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Those who love their life will lose it, while those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

When we become part of the body of Christ we must be willing to put aside our own selfish ambitions and be part of the corporate plan of God.  We must be willing to die to the passions of the flesh that are of this world. We must be willing to live lives set apart from our current society.  Ultimately, we must hold loosely our earthly treasures so that one day we will have heavenly crowns. The beauty of the cross is that through Jesus's blood we are able to give up our lives in order to save them.  That old rugged cross allows us to  have communion with a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).  And it is for Calvary that I strive to die each day in order that I may truly live.