Permit It To Be

The Lord’s insight. A strong believer learns to permit what is not always understood rather than trying to force what they want others to understand.

John 3:15: “But Jesus answered and said to him permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

John 19:11 “You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above.”

If the Lord asked you to accept some wrong rather than avenge some wrong against you, would you do it?  This is exactly what Paul asks the people of Corinth.  He says to them, “why would you go before the unrighteous to settle things between the righteous?”

He said it is utter failure that believers go to law against one another.  He asks, “why do you not accept wrong?  Why do you not rather allow yourselves to be cheated?”  (1 Corinthians 6:1-9). He is not saying that we should be glad when we are wronged.  That would be foolish. Rather he wants us to permit ourselves to refrain from hitting back when we are hit.

John was baptizing the people in the Jordan river when Jesus came to be baptized.  John thought Jesus should be baptizing him instead.  But Jesus responded by telling John to allow this to happen because it fulfilled the scripture.

This made me realize how I have often resisted something that ultimately could have made me better.

In John 19, Pilate tells Jesus that he has the power to crucify Him or to set Him free.  Jesus responds by telling Pilate he would have no power over Him unless it were given to Pilate from above – that is God. Jesus permitted Pilate to order His death.

We often resist the power or authority of man so we can force man to do right by us. And we live in a world today where most everyone seeks retribution or revenge for the things that happen to us.  Many of us have become advocates for things we believe are right more than we should be committed to the things God wants us to be.

The Lord doesn’t want us to allow ourselves to be wronged so that He can show Himself to be strong.  But we should realize that sometimes the things that we permit to happen to us act as the power needed to cause others to change their ways towards us. Many of us read scripture and see information about what we can do; then some allow the scripture to read them, and they find the transformation that awaits them.

As believers we must remember that the more we fight for what we believe is right for us, the less the Lord fights for us. What things we force usually happen through our own strength; but the things we permit often cause to happen the things we cannot force. The Lord doesn’t need you to be caught in a sin to show the blessing of obedience. This is what glorifies the Lord and what develops our faith.

The Lord doesn’t want you to be slapped, but when it happens, permit yourself not to respond in anger.

The Lord doesn’t want you to be cheated, but when it does happen, permit yourself to respond in grace.

The Lord doesn’t want you to be the tail, but when it happens, permit yourself to lead from the rear.

You have two choices in your life as a believer in how you live before others.  There are things you must learn to permit, and you must keep yourself from trying to force things to happen because you want what is fair and right.

Both Jesus and John permitted the thing that glorified God. When you fight for yourself, you get glory for yourself. But the glory you get is the glory of man more than it is of God. In many ways, with the Lord, it is the act to permit some things to happen that is what glorifies the Lord more than the fact that we correct a wrong done against us.

You should wonder if you are serving the Lord when you have an attitude of retribution more than an attitude of permission. When you learn to permit the work of the Lord to thrive in your life, your attitude of permitting His Lordship is a glorifying act in itself.

The feeling that you will avenge and correct all the wrongs you see is a scary attitude to have. To get what you want you will have to get man to give you what man does not want to give you.  When you force man to do right by you, you lose more than you gain.

When you choose to permit the Lord to work against the evil that comes your way you will gain more than you will gain by simply giving evil what it deserves. If you must have an attitude, let it be that you ask the Lord to help you learn to permit His work in your life to be so.

Live a Delivered Life.