The Tyranny of Me

The Tyranny of Me

 Since Jesus went through everything you're going through,

Since Jesus went through everything you're going

through and more, learn to think like Him.

Think of your sufferings as a weaning from that

old sinful habit of always expecting to get your own way.

Then you'll be able to live out your days free to pursue

what God wants instead of being tyrannized

by what you want.

1 Peter 4:1-2 

I had to laugh today when I read this passage written by a man who could throw a temper tantrum with the best of them.  Peter was such a rough character when he first joined Jesus' intrepid little band of followers.  He rumbled and blustered and generally thought himself very much "with it" for a man of his stature in the lower echelons of society, and very used to pushing his weight around to get what he wanted.  Yet he came to know that suffering has a way of exposing the selfishness in all of us - our need to control out situation so that we can have a favorable outcome - i..e., our own way.

The longer I am alive, the more I realize that there is very little in life that I can control, and when I try to do it anyway, I end up being shackled to the very thing that was supposed to make my life better.  Peter called it being tyrannized by the things you want.  He had learned that he was much better off under the freedom of God's control than under his own willfulness.  Rather than say, "my way or the highway," I need to follow Christ's example and say, "Thy will be done." 

* 

I need Thee every hour, teach me Thy will.

And Thy rich promises in me fulfill.

I need Thee, O, I need Thee

Every hour I need Thee.

O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.

The United Methodist Hymnal, No. 397