Thermometer Or Thermostat????

THERMOMETER-----An instrument for measuring and indicating temperature.

THERMOSTAT-----A device that automatically regulates temperature, or that activates a device when the temperature reaches a certain point.

Based upon those definitions, we can confidently say that a THERMOMETER is a device used to measure the environment surrounding it and a THERMOSTAT is a device which not only measures the environment, but activates something which will make proper adjustments to that environment based upon the settings that have been given it.


So, what are you?  Are you a THERMOMETER or a THERMOSTAT?  Do you measure your surroundings and then go about your business, or do you measure your surroundings and then set about doing something to change them based upon your 'settings' as a Christian?

"Simply put, if you're not willing

to take what is dearest to you,

whether plans or people,

and kiss it good-bye,

you can't be my disciple.

"Salt is excellent.

But if the salt goes flat,

it's useless, good for nothing.

"Are you listening to this?

Really listening?"

Luke 14: 33-35  (The Message)
 

Now, if I read this passage correctly, it tells me that I am of no use to the Lord, or to the advancement of His Kingdom, unless I am willing to forsake everything and give my life over completely to His control.  If I do that, I automatically become a THERMOSTAT because I have no choice but to do so. 

 

If I am to be a device of change, however, my will must be put under the submission of the will of the Lord.  Therein lies the problem.  I am so sure I can do it, I know what's best, I've got the answers, I've got "a plan" and surely God wants me to use my plan.  After all, He did give me a brain to think with and the ability to make plans and the desire to have direction in my life, right?

 

We go so far away from the Lord when we begin to think that our way is better than His way, or that we can even understand which "way" is right without submitting to Him.

 
 

Seek God while he's here to be found,

pray to him while he's close at hand.

Let the wicked abandon their way of life

and the evil their way of thinking.

Let them come back to God,

who is merciful,

come back to our God,

who is lavish with forgiveness.

"I don't think the way you think.

The way you work isn't the way I work."

God's Decree.

"For as the sky soars high above earth,

so the way I work surpasses the way you work,

and the way I think is beyond the way you think.

Just as rain and snow descend from the skies

and don't go back until they've watered the earth,

Doing their work of making things grow and blossom,

producing seed for farmers and food for the hungry,

So will the words that come out of my mouth

not come back empty-handed.

They'll do the work I sent them to do,

they'll complete the assignment I gave them.'

Isiah 55: 6-11  (The Message)

 

We will never fully understand the ways of the Lord as long as we inhabit this mortal body; nor will we understand His thoughts.  Accepting that truth is essential to having peace about surrendering our will to His.  Just as we accept His love for us through faith, we must accept His omniscience....His infinite knowledge of us and all we think, do or feel.  Because He knows us so well, He knows the plans that will foster the greatest potential in His Kingdom.

 

Isn't that what you want from your life as a Christian?  Don't you desire to be and do the very best for the Lord?  Isn't that what our daily striving is all about?  Yet, the answers are there, within each of us who know Jesus Christ and we have only to surrender to Him in order to realize our greatest potential for Him.  It's really quite a simple and uncomplicated concept when you consider it.

 

In my own life, I have no problem with the concept; it's the practice of the concept that brings me difficulty.  Yet, when I surrender, there's no peace quite like the peace that fills my inmost being when I know I am surrendered to Him.  Isn't it so completely human to know that peace, yet rail against it over and over again in our daily walk with Him?

 

 

 



Then Jesus called for the children and said to the disciples, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
Luke 18: 16 & 17   (NLT)

Precious Father, once again I surrender myself to You, completely and wholly; all that I am, all that I think, all that I feel, all that I do.....these I surrender to You.  I want to be Your instrument of change in my world.  I want to bring comfort and hope to those who so desperately need it.  I know I can only accomplish that when I surrender to You and allow You to work through me.  Thank you for Your precious mercy and grace that allows me to come time and time again to present myself as Your servant.  Thank you for Your loving kindness that never turns me away nor reprimands me, but forgives me and draws me back into the fold of Your loving arms.  Help me to mirror You to everyone I meet, talk to or interact with in any manner.  In the precious Name of Jesus I ask these things..................AMEN.