Me, in control?

When I was in seminary, I wrote a paper on Hebrews.  The only thing that I remember about that paper was that it only covered a few chapters and my professor wrote, “Your writing is problematic”, on one of the pages.  Sweet, wasn’t it?  For all I know, it could have been.  So, endure some more problematic writing with me as I settle in my cozy chair and look at this book. 

I am home and today I have not been to any hospitals.  We are in the middle of figuring out what we are looking at with one of my family members.  It is hard to watch people that you love hurting.  I remember when I was going through, “the year of the back”, or 2008 as some called it.  In my wretched state, I would look at the face of my husband.  I was mindful of what I was going through every second of the day, but my physical pain was as intense as his emotional pain.  When I would be stuck on the floor for hours, days, weeks…his face said it all.  He felt completely out of control and his heart was breaking for me.

As life travels on, the last couple of weeks we have watched as another one of those close to us is hurting.  I have wondered if I am doing everything right.  I listen to the doctors and the endless opinions of people around me.  Don’t you love those?  I no longer feel that I have to defend my actions to anyone without a medical degree.  Hallelujah, I am free.  So, onward we go, often feeling out of control, but hopeful.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t have to have a crisis to feel out of control.  I have not been home for more than a couple of days in the last 3 weeks.  My house is out of control.  I have dust and no food in the fridge.  I don’t know what tomorrow brings, so today I rest in the Lord and go to the grocery store.  I was reading Hebrews 2:6-9,

“'What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

or mortals, that you care for them?

⁷     You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned them with glory and honor,

⁸     subjecting all things under their feet.'

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, ⁹ but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower  than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone."

This passage makes me come back to the basics.  Who am I?  Who do I believe that I am?  If the God of the universe is mindful of me, cares for me, then what am I?  I am not just someone who goes through events in life.  I am not simply reacting to trials and sufferings, relationships and the hours of my day.  God is mindful of me; it is bigger than me.  The verse goes on…we are a little lower than the angels.  Usually don’t we think that there is a cataclysmic difference between ourselves and the supernatural?  I can hardly see any of the higher beings wandering the bean aisle in grocery store, so maybe they are a little higher than that.  But that is only for a little while.  We will not be in this world forever, can I get an amen?

We are crowned with glory and honor.  Today, will I act like I am assured of this?  Will I get down and dirty, worrying about what a doctor can come up with or wallowing in the cares and gossip of this world; or will I walk around my home, parking lots, and grocery stores adorned in my proverbial purple linen robes and jewels knowing that I am a daughter of the King.  I am, whether I choose it or not, crowned with glory and honor.  That is what I received when I joined the family of God.  I can wear my proverbial fineries and have the world stare at me and say, “Look at that silly woman, why in the world would she be in those robes?  She looks so uncomfortable”; or I can act like I know who I am.  They can say, “Look at that woman; she has a texture to her that I desire for myself.  She is different, set apart.”  Glory and honor are already ours, whether we understand them or not. 

The next part is really the catch.  As this being crowned in glory and honor, do you feel like all things are subject under your feet?  God has left nothing outside our control.  We are the children of the Creator.  We do have power in Him.  We have the power to live intentionally.  We have the power to change our homes, our marriages, our careers, and our children’s future.  We are just lower than angels in hierarchy.  The rest is under our feet.  God left NOTHING outside of our control.  Nothing.  We are only subject to the one who created us. 

Looking around your life, you might say, “Come over on any given day and I will show you what is out of control.”  Hebrews covers that, too.  Right now, we can’t see everything that has been made subject to us.  We couldn’t possibly, and the author of this book gives us that.  But we do have a glimpse.  Jesus was made lower than the angels for just a short time.  He was just like us, walking in homes, market places, and the temple.  He showed us what is possible.  We really do have this living inside of us.  He has already saved us from the worst possible out-of-control experience, being eternally separated from God. 

Let’s live today like we believe scripture.  We are crowned in honor and glory, sisters.  We are going to be with the Father for eternity.  All things are subject to us and nothing is outside of our control.  We have the power to be life changers, aggressively advancing the kingdom on earth.  So, let’s ask, who am I today?

Lord, you are so good that you have left us with your word, because we cannot understand this life apart from your truth.  Thank you for being mindful of us.  Let us see how to interact with your world today crowned in honor and glory.  Show us where we need to assume control of our lives under your guidance.