You’re not the boss of me. This is a phrase that most of us parents have more than likely heard from our children when speaking to one another. I believe that most kids will learn this phrase and use it towards their siblings more than any other phrase.
It seems to me that this is one of those things that most of us are born with. Each of us since birth want our independence, we each want to be our own bosses in life, and we like to call the shots within our lives. I don’t know if I have ever met anyone that desires to be told what, when and how to do something young or old!
Illustration: A meek husband is advised by his shrink don't act like a frightened mouse
Go home and assert yourself more Show her you're the boss of the house He rushes home, walks in and slams the door, Tells his wife her treatment of him is a disgrace
"From now on, you're taking orders from me" He shouts, while shaking his fist in her face. "I want my supper right now, lady and then go upstairs, and lay out my best gear
tonight; I'm going out with the boys, while you stay where you belong. Here!!
And guess who's going to comb my hair, Give me a shave, and polish my shoes like new"
His wife replies very firmly and calmly, "The undertaker, my dear, that's who"
-Isn’t this how many relationships go? We begin them very well. We start off placing the one we love so very high and have no problem placing them first over us and all we want to do is serve them and make them happy but through time something changes doesn’t it? The position that we originally place them seems to magically change to a much lower position in our lives.
-It shows in the way we talk to them and even in the way we don’t talk to them. They get less and less of our attention with each passing day and over a matter of time the one that we loved so dearly, the one that we held in such high esteem is treated as if they might as well be just an acquaintance.
I suppose, over time we revert back to a child in many ways. We forget what is truly important in life and our inner child screams out, “You’re not the boss of me”!! We have an…
I.Inflated view of ourselves.
A.Likewise this too is how many of our relationships with God have become as well. We have taken a higher position in our minds than that of God. We have inflated our view of ourselves so highly that we have committed a sin against Him. The sin of Blasphemy.
1.What is Blasphemy exactly? It’s placing yourself above God and by doing so we are saying that we ourselves are more important than God Himself and we don’t really need Him because we have it all figured out.
John 10: 33 We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
Matthew 12:31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
2.Why is the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit not to be forgiven? Because when you refuse to hear the Holy Spirit's voice anymore, the call to repentance. You have put yourself out of His reach, and completely turned from God.
3.You don’t ask for forgiveness, as you don't feel a need. Therefore will never repent. You are placing yourself above God and in His place, which is blasphemy!
4.Is it possible that some of us have found ourselves in this position? Maybe when you first gave yourself to Jesus, you placed Him high and were willing to serve Him daily at any cost. You placed Him over yourself in all matters and the only thing that you truly cared about was pleasing Him, serving Him, and making Him happy.
5.And just like in our earthly relationships, we slowly began to place ourselves a little higher each day. We slowly placed ourselves higher than God. We justify our wants and desires if they are in conflict with God’s Word.
6.We say things like; I need to sleep in on Sundays, I don’t have time to pray and speak to God today, I don’t feel like reading the Bible and want to watch this or that on television.
7.We try telling ourselves that God understands and He doesn’t care if I skip out on our relationship here or there.
Illustration: Let me ask you this. How would your husband or wife feel if you simply didn’t feel like talking to them one day because you were too pre-occupied with something else? Or you are just too busy to spend any time with them because you would rather spend your time away from them doing something else?
I believe this is a no brainer and we all agree with how that would go over in our marriages.
8.Likewise with God, he desires us to have an active relationship with Him. He desires to spend time with us in Prayer, reading His Word and visits to His house. If we place our own desires above God’s, our relationship will ultimately be strained.
9.When we inflate ourselves above God, we view not only ourselves differently, we also view God differently. We end up having a…
II.Deflated view of God.
A.Christians and other people in general view God as an old man with a white beard? We see this image of God a lot as an old man with a white beard whenever we see things involving God this is usually how he is depicted. Is this really the true view that Christianity has of god?
1.In our society we have the view of old being bad. For example, If you’re driving an old car, you need to get a new one because newer is faster, more efficient, better looking, and performs better in every way.
2.This is true for most things in our lives isn’t it? Things spoil the older they get and needs to be thrown out, things break down more often the older they get and we as people even become less effective in life the older we become. Our hearing and even our eyesight isn’t as good as it once was.
Illustration: Two elderly women were out driving in a large car and both could barely see over the dashboard. As they were cruising along they came to an intersection. The stoplight was red but they just went on through. The woman in the passenger seat thought to herself "I must be losing it, I could have sworn we just went through a red light."
After a few more minutes they came to another intersection and the light was red again and again they went right through. This time the woman in the passenger seat was almost sure that the light had been red but was really concerned that she was losing it. She was getting nervous and decided to pay very close attention to the road and the next intersection to see what was going on.
At the next intersection, sure enough, the light was definitely red and they went right through and she turned to the other woman and said, "Mildred! Did you know we just ran through three red lights in a row! You could have killed us!" Mildred turned to her and said, "Oh, am I driving?"
3.We have a negative view of old age. We try all we can to avoid wrinkles with cream, exercises and even surgeries. Staying young has been and probably always will be a goal for many.
4.And sadly this is the same picture that many have of God.
A.I believe we also have a deflated view of God because of our lack of faith.
1.We have accepted into our lives words such as: “fate”, “luck”, and “chance”. And by accepting these we are in a sense saying that God’s will for our lives is non-existent and that God is powerless when it comes to what we do in life.
2.We are telling Him that He has no control in our lives and that life is more about us rather than Him.
3.We live in a world today in which our own devices are more of a hindrance for us spiritually than an enhancement.
4.We rely too much on others and technology than we do on God and His ultimate power. Problems arise in our lives and we think they all can be solved by simply doing a web search or going to an advice column.
5.What ever happened to taking it to God and seeking His guidance to our problems in life? Have we lost our faith in God and in His promises to us?
- Luke 11:9 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
-Don’t we still believe that God answers prayer?
VIDEO: “Umbrella” (Worship House Media)
- Matthew 21:22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
6.We use a lot of lip service when it comes to prayer but do we truly believe? Are we double minded? …..Are we unstable?
James 1:5-8 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
7.Maybe our egos become so great that we have inflated ourselves above God and His promises? Maybe we deflated our view of God so much that we no longer believe? We doubt Him and His promises.
8.Are we telling Him that He is not the Boss of Us and we are gonna live however we want?
Conclusion: God not only desires but He deserves the highest position in our lives.
