Adjusting Our Lives to God

Stephen Kuropas was born with cerebral palsy. He cannot use his hands to write, he gets around in a wheelchair, and he requires help for such day-to-day functions as eating. However, after making some adjustments to his life and daily routine Kuropas was able to graduate with an associate’s degree from Community College of Philadelphia, at the age of 41.

Signing up for one class each semester, Kuropas tape recorded lectures and had assistants who took notes for him. Because he gets migraines from reading, helpers also recorded all of his books onto cassettes. At home, he typed his assignments onto a computer, using his head. Because he cannot speak clearly he communicates through expressive gestures and he shares his more complex thoughts on paper.

No doubt Stephen Kuropas had to make some major adjustments in his life to accomplish his dream. In the same way you and I must make adjustments in our lives in order to men the men and women of God that we desire to be.

Listen to the words of Jesus in Luke 14:33.
In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

You see in life you cannot stay where you are and go with God. You have to give up everything you are in order to take on the life that Christ has in store for you. Too many times we attempt to follow God while keeping our old lifestyles that we are so comfortable with. When we accept Christ as our savior and make him Lord of our lives we give up the way we spoke, the way we thought, the way we act, and the way we desire things. We take on a new identity in Christ. Basically we adjust our lives to him.

Here are a few men who made major adjustments in their lives to follow God.
Noah – Prepared for a world flood, even though there had never been rain before.
Moses – Went back to Egypt the place where he fled from.
Matthew – Gave up his lifestyle to follow Jesus.
Saul – Changed his identity and life purpose.

Even Jesus had to make major adjustments. He left heaven and came to earth. He became a man. Instead of being in complete control he allowed men to beat him and stretch him out and nail him to a cross.

Your greatest single difficulty in following God may come at the point of the adjustment. The reason why is because you are giving up something you want for what God wants. Why? Why would God want us to give something up that we want? It could be because He wants to see if we are truly devoted to Him, or it could be that He just knows better than we do.
Isaiah 55:9
As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

During the terrible days of the Blitz in World War II, a father, holding his small son by the hand, ran from a building that had been struck by a bomb. In the front yard was a created that had been created by a bomb. Seeking shelter as quickly as possible, the father jumped into the hole and held up his arms for his son to follow. Terrified, yet hearing his father’s voice telling him to jump, the boy replied, “I can’t see you!”

“It’s okay”, the father yelled back, “I can see you.” The boy obeyed his father and jumped, trusting that he would be there to catch him.

Life adjustments come through obedience and faith. We have to trust God, even when we can’t see the outcome. We have to be obedient to Him, even when we are scared.

Here is the question it all comes down to. Do you really believe that God is who He says He is?

Go this week and allow God to adjust your life and desires to His will and His desires for you!