Permit It to Be So- Now!

But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
Matthew 3:15

Focus on Christ 

What do you permit to be acceptable in your life? Does everything that happens have to be on your schedule? Do others have to follow your directions exactly in order to satisfy you? What if some things are not exactly right logically? Can you accept other’s ideas even if they are different than yours? 

Jesus was speaking to John the Baptist. He asked John to baptize Him. John was trying to prevent Him from doing this just like Simon Peter tried to rebuke Jesus. Baptizing Jesus did not make sense to John. After all, Jesus was the sinless Son of God. Why did He need to be baptized? To them this baptism was a picture of what happens to a person after sin has been removed from their life. They were looking for a sinless Messiah who would be perfectly righteous. While it is true that Jesus had no sin of His own, He carried our sin, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). Though Jesus did not need baptism, He said to John, “Permit it to be so now” to affirm that Jesus was coming to take away the sin of the world.

When Christ approaches your life, what will you permit to be so now? What if He asks something of you that does not make sense? Will you battle Him and try to convince Him that your way is right? Sometimes what you think is the right direction is not absolutely wrong, it is just not the way that Christ chooses at the time.

Notice that Christ was not referring to the future of how things might be, but of what must happen in the present. “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” (Hebrews 2:10). We would not have chosen sufferings. His Way does not always coincide with our way. Jesus came into the world as a baby and would need to grow as any other boy. Jesus knew this act of baptism was going to help people see that if He would be righteousness for sinners, then He would need to be publicly identified with sinners in the beginning of His ministry.

People tend to interpret events through their own eyes of pride. Whenever something is about to happen, they often don’t look at it from God’s perspective, but from their own. Christians, leaders, and churches often do this. They tend to interpret everything from the aspect of how things relate simply to them or their church, not according to the bigger picture of God’s kingdom. 

Jesus knew that it would be different for Him to be baptized and He had to firmly convince John to permit it to be so now. Jesus was humble, but He also refused John’s direction. Christ will guide His Own Way, whether you understand it or not. But if Christ had a better way to accomplish the beginning of His ministry, He would have chosen that way. And so it is with your life. For righteousness to be accomplished, you must follow the right way. The right way is always the Way of Christ.

One thing that stands out in this passage is that spiritual minded people see things differently from arrogant people. Spiritual people see their need for future growth and are willing to see their wrongness and adjust their lives to Christ. Arrogant people do not see their wrongness and are comfortable and clueless in following the wrong way. Even the most godly people have a need for Christ. In fact, the closer you get to Christ, the more you realize what you do not know and need to learn. Godly people will not follow arrogant thinking. They will see that without Christ, they can do nothing. With Christ there is nothing that is impossible. 

What is now, is what Christ has permitted. Allow it to be so. Yield to His Ways and follow Him. The future may be much different, but you should be satisfied with now.

Focus on Self 

Do you see everything in your life from just your own thinking? If you do, you are arrogant and clueless to the Ways of God. God has a great purpose in this world, and you fit in wherever He chooses. Accept what He has permitted now and you will be able to relax in the Ways of Christ. His Way truly is the best way for your life.

 

*Taken from Gifts from God by Kerry Skinner and Alison Veazey. Click here to order your copy.