I don’t want Him to be mine.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

What does it mean to be poor in spirit? It means that we recognize that we can do nothing. The poorly worded bumper stickers stating God as our co-pilot are terribly misleading. This seems to be in the same teaching that, “God helps those that help themselves” is actually in the Scriptures. As Christians trying to pull lost souls out of the world for God, we sometimes meld and compromise. We at times come up with half-way doctrine, even out of good intent.

When we say that the Lord is our co-pilot, what we are really saying is that I am still in charge. God helps me do it! But what is poor in spirit? It means that what we need to do is beyond us. Without God we can do nothing. We want to hand the controls over to the One who can do it. We want to make Him, pilot of our life!! God wants to do it for us, all we have to do is accept it. God should be guiding our lives; we need only relinquish control over to our loving Lord. He will save us from ourselves, if we only yield control.

Jesus taught that we should humble ourselves and love others. He said of Himself that the “Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve” (Matt. 20:28). Jesus taught that when we are poor we are rich. When we are weak, we are strong. When we lose our life, we will find it. When we are last, we are first. He gave his life as a ransom for many, out of love, because we cannot save ourselves. This is God’s amazing grace. How can we not strive to yield to His will completely?

I want Him to have control and be my pilot.

(thoughts inspired after a great sermon by Pastor Woodruff)