Full of Yourself?

I wouldn't consider myself a control freak by any means- probably just a little Type A at times. What can I say? I need a plan. Is this personality trait of mine wrong? I think our controlling natures are only sinful when they become independent of the Lord. After all, He did give us control over certain things when He created the world but soon afterwards, that control (Eve) was made independent of the Lord. Sometimes I wonder where God is in a certain situation and then realize I haven't given Him control to do anything with it. 

He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:30)

In order for much to be made of Him, we have to continually be laying things down. Often times we have no problem surrendering the things that we don't like to the Lord. If you're having a yard sale, it's going to be easier to give up the things that you don't care for anymore than it is to give up something shiny and fancy that you've loved for so long. Here's the kicker, we not only need to give up the parts of us that we don't like but the parts of us that we do like. So many times the message is to surrender your sin, surrender the parts of yourself that the Lord's not happy with and while that is definitely what we are called to do, we are also called to surrender our big house, our nice car, our head knowledge, our gentle and loving spirit, our family, our independence. Does this mean that we need to divorce our spouse, sell our house, and be rude to people? No, it's giving control of those things that we grip so tightly back to the Lord and let Him run wild with them. He can do far better with them than we ever could.

Lately, I've had to surrender my sleep and my energy to make much of baby girl; to make sure she's clean, fed, rested, and happy. There are plenty of days I'm drained. I've given it all up for her. This is what God has called us to do. To be drained of ourselves to make much of Him so that He can fill us back up again with Himself. 

We can't truly make much of Him if we aren't daily making less of ourselves and that includes the "good" things in our life. We need to unclinch our fists.