WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?
Jack Kelley
Turn It Over To Jesus
Q. What does it mean when Christian friends of mine tell me to turn all my troubles over to Jesus, or lay it (them) at the foot of the cross. I’m going through some difficult personal issues and all I hear from my Christian friends is that I need to pray about it and lay my troubles at the foot of the cross or turn it all over to Jesus. When I ask them to explain, they can’t. They just tell me that Jesus will take care of it. Does this mean I say a prayer about my circumstance, tell Jesus that I turning it all over to him, and then ignore the problem and move on hoping the Lord will take care of the issue? I can tell you that my prayers are going unanswered and I’m not believing that Christ is taking on my problems for me.
A. Solving a personal problem can be difficult because the solution is often beyond our control. Making ourselves responsible for a result we don’t have control over is a recipe for stress. Turning a problem over to Jesus doesn’t mean we ignore it or stop working on it. It means we change our perspective about it. We still apply whatever skill or ability we have but we add two things to the mix. First we pray for divine assistance in finding a solution. Second we turn the outcome over to the Lord, subordinating our will in the matter to His.
There’s really no risk in this because we know that God is working everything together for our good (Romans 8:28), and giving Him the responsibility for the result takes the stress away. We just have to be willing to let the Lord produce the result He wants in a situation, even if it turns out to different from the one we wanted.
So laying our problems at the foot of the cross means deciding to let His will be done in a matter, and letting Him work through us to achieve it. Jesus said, “Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
Turn It Over To Jesus
Q. What does it mean when Christian friends of mine tell me to turn all my troubles over to Jesus, or lay it (them) at the foot of the cross. I’m going through some difficult personal issues and all I hear from my Christian friends is that I need to pray about it and lay my troubles at the foot of the cross or turn it all over to Jesus. When I ask them to explain, they can’t. They just tell me that Jesus will take care of it. Does this mean I say a prayer about my circumstance, tell Jesus that I turning it all over to him, and then ignore the problem and move on hoping the Lord will take care of the issue? I can tell you that my prayers are going unanswered and I’m not believing that Christ is taking on my problems for me.
A. Solving a personal problem can be difficult because the solution is often beyond our control. Making ourselves responsible for a result we don’t have control over is a recipe for stress. Turning a problem over to Jesus doesn’t mean we ignore it or stop working on it. It means we change our perspective about it. We still apply whatever skill or ability we have but we add two things to the mix. First we pray for divine assistance in finding a solution. Second we turn the outcome over to the Lord, subordinating our will in the matter to His.
There’s really no risk in this because we know that God is working everything together for our good (Romans 8:28), and giving Him the responsibility for the result takes the stress away. We just have to be willing to let the Lord produce the result He wants in a situation, even if it turns out to different from the one we wanted.
So laying our problems at the foot of the cross means deciding to let His will be done in a matter, and letting Him work through us to achieve it. Jesus said, “Come to me you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).
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