The Second Best Love Story Ever Written

So lately I've been dealing with the problem of not giving God all control of my life. It's really been a struggle for me, because I'm the type of person that wants to take charge of every situation. Over the years, that quality has been sort of been a blessing and a curse: God's allowed me to be a leader and use my gifts to glorify Him, but I've often gone beyond that and tried to be the god of my own life. Suffice to say, it hasn't and won't ever go well. Jeremiah 29 makes it pretty clear that God is a planning God, and His will for our lives is definitely better than anything we could ever imagine.


The most difficult part of my life that I've not been giving up to God has been how I go about relationships with my sisters in Christ. Like I said, I'm a person who wants to know the details of what my future holds, but God keeps on telling me that that's not how things work in His plan. I feel almost like a pestering child when I keep asking God "Is it her? No? How about her?" and God tells me "I've got it figured out already. This isn't a guessing game. I'll let you know when you're ready." But I'm impatient. I'd like to either know something about who she'll be or take steps towards pursuing her now, but God has other plans. Thankfully He is changing me into a person who is more content in Him right now and not as worried about what my future will hold.


Here's where He's especially convicted me-and what the title of this post means. God is the writer of the best love story every put down on paper. Somewhere in eternity past, He decided that, first of all, He would allow humanity to fall into sin. It wouldn't make sense at the moment to us, but it would be for the best. Then, He would limit Himself to being a human being. I don't think we ever truly appreciate how humbling that alone is. God became man. Creator became creation. But He didn't stop there; He then died for us in the worst way possible. And, on top of that, His death was for people who didn't even deserve to be died for! Romans 5:7-8 says it pretty well: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." That's three different ways He showed his love! Any of those alone would be commendable by human standards. But God went above and beyond, as He always does, and did all three of them.


So I figure, if God is so good at writing a love story, why don't I let him write mine? If I really believe that He is who He says He is - an all-knowing, all-powerful, all loving God who will work all good and bad things for my eventual holiness - why do I cling so tightly to what I want when it comes to love? It's as if I'm trying to one-up a perfectly written romance novel with a cheesy junior high love song. I shouldn't be doing it. But change is difficult; God never said our sanctification would be an easy process. As I begin to let Him take control, however, I keep seeing more and more how His plan is best.