Details

"And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph 1:22-23).

It happened in Detroit, Michigan. After applying for a marriage license, a man failed to return to the county clerk's office until 11 years later to claim the document. When asked why he and his fiancée had waited so long to get married, he explained, "We had a few disagreements about details." I suppose that sums up a great deal of the problems many people have making that commitment to Jesus. Even those who seem to make it, frequently show that they and the Lord are in disagreement about some of the details. Yet, the Bible says that the Father, "gave Him as head over all things to the church." This may be one of the most forgotten statements in Scripture. It is true that Jesus is head of the church, but that's not what this verse says. It says that to the church, Jesus is head over all things. There are at least two points important for us to understand:

The first relates to authority. Jesus is in charge. There is nothing else in life-no person in life, no activity or event in life, that holds a position of authority equal to, or greater than Jesus Christ. We must understand this in order to understand that Jesus is to be in charge of all of life itself, and everything that life contains or involves. The second relates to allegiance. Since Jesus is in charge, then nothing is as important as He is. Nothing should call for our attention, our energy, our allegiance like Jesus. In whatever we involve ourselves, our priority commitment is Jesus and His will for our life.

Those little details can give us fits. It means Jesus is Lord over your money, spare time, job, family, entertainment, hobbies, possessions, thoughts, words, actions, anything and everything, tangible or not. Jesus is over it all and you are to yield to Jesus, not to anyone or anything else. It sounds good, but I can tell you that if you get serious about allowing Jesus to be over it all, you'll discover a place or two, a thing or two, about which you feel this urge to argue about the details. Still, there it is. Jesus is to be over all things. There wouldn't be anything you've held back from him, would there? Is there anything Jesus might say you should give up, or maybe even take up? You're not struggling with allowing Jesus to be head over the details of your life are you? Did you laugh at the story about the marriage license? I see!

Prayer

Heavenly Lord,

We hold so many things back from You, often choosing to remain in darkness rather than be exposed by the light. Father, You truly desire to be Lord of all in our lives, even things we tend to want to keep from You! Nothing compares to the promises You have for us. Break us until we are willing to surrender every part of ourselves to Your guidance. In the name of Jesus, Amen