Loosen Our Grip

There are things we hold on to too tightly sometimes without even realizing it. It is those things we hold on to with all our might that we tend to lose. It is not because we don’t deserve these things, but it possibly because are trying to keep them under our control or because we put them higher than other things in our lives. We have to be careful about what we think about and hold too near to our hearts.

Mark 7:20-23 “And then he added, ‘It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.’”

We have all heard what we think about the most is what we tend to value the most. For some it is money. For others it is people. Then there are those of us who put our possessions so high up on a pedestal we are willing to fight for them above anything else. It’s time we took a close look at what it is we think about on a regular basis and allow God to work in us so we can loosen up our grip a bit.

Believe it or not, we can be obsessed with money and still not have any. We can think about money all the time, where we can get more and what we can do with it. We can be so obsessed with it that we are only happy when we have it and we are very depressed when we don’t. We can be so dependent upon money it really begins to control us rather than us controlling it.

The same can happen with other things and with people. We can allow something in our lives to become such a big part of our life we can’t think of anything else. We want to spend all our time in one area of our life and soon the other areas get left out and we are allowing that thing or person to control us. When that happens we forget God needs to be first in our lives.

Our grip may not be just on people or things. It can also be on power. It can be on anger. It can be on depression. It can be on love. We can have strong feelings and they can take over whatever we do. When we allow our feelings to take over, we begin to become blind to the other things and people around us. If we are not careful, these things or people can defile, or ruin, our lives.

The devil enjoys for us to cling tightly to someone or something. He wants us to believe in anything or anyone other than God. When we are tightening our grip on the things of the world and trying so hard to find happiness, pleasure and peace in anything other than God, the devil smiles. He tells us to hold on a little tighter so we can have more things.

Rather than being consumed by the things we are holding on to too tightly, it is time we loosened our grip. It is time we gave God first place in our lives in all that we do. He needs to be first in our finances, in our relationships, in our work and in our play. When we put God first in all we do and spend time with Him, our minds become more focused on what it is He wants us to do.

When we stop trying to be in control of things and stop allowing the things of the world to control us, and allow God to take first place in our lives, we will learn the things we were holding on to so tightly were not so important. We will learn the important things are what God wants us to do. We will learn we can find happiness, pleasure and peace in doing God’s will and in making a difference for Him.