Stepping Stones: Caretaker, Not King

Transformational Tip
I have 3 daughters, and they are great kids…wouldn’t trade them for anything. They are very responsible and good with each other. When my wife and I go out, we leave them in charge to babysit…17 yo babysits the 14 yo, 14 yo babysits the 9 yo, and 9 yo babysits our dog. The determining factor for when we granted them their wish to “be on their own” was…”whose rules will you use to manage yourselves and those you are in charge of...ours or yours?” If they are able to be an extension of us, their parents, be a caretaker of our rules, wishes, and authority, we left them alone. If they were going to be their own king (queens in this case), authority, overthrow the existing regime, and rule based on their whims, desires, and standards, they couldn’t be on their own. Yesterday, we talked about how God created us to be His extension, the caretaker of His authority in all areas of creation including His standards and guidelines for our life. Our struggles… insecurity, worry, depression, bitterness, loneliness, etc…happen when we ignore, rebel against, overthrow, His authority, and place ourselves as the all-knowing, all-powerful ruler of our universe. Using our ineffective, incomplete, warped standards, rules, and guidelines of self-protection actually results in our own self-destruction. Satan does a great job of hiding this cause and effect from us so we keep on being our own ruler and are ignorant of it being the cause of our daily self-destructive consequences.
Today, as you experience some unrest, stop and ask yourself, “whose rules am I using in this situation? Who authority am I really trusting in?” God designed us to be caretakers of His authority, not kings developing our own kingdom. Click here for a resource to help be less king and more caretaker of God’s plan for your life. Click here to share with the stepping stone community your thoughts on being more caretaker and less king.

Prayer
Dear Father, You are the most powerful, sovereign king ever, but You also are the most loving and sacrificial king to Your subjects. Thanks for sacrificing for me, a rebellious subject who often overthrows Your rule in my life. I know when my flesh is on the throne, I reap the fruit of the flesh. Open my mind to Your wisdom, and guidance You have for me developing the Mind of Christ. In the name of the King of Kings, and all God’s children said, – AMEN!

The Truth
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
And the LORD said to Samuel, "Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them."
1 Samuel 8:7-9