What an easy thing to say: "I surrender all!"
But... how?
This thing is
not
easy to do.
"Here, Lord, I give you this, that and the other thing. In fact, you can have my whole life while you're at it."
[Pause]
"Wait, whoa, hold it! You can't do that! Let me see it, I can do it. I got this."
We "give"-- and then take it right back!
Just like a little child who holds a cookie out, pretending to offer it to you-- and then, just as you are about to close your hand around it, withdraws and eats it, laughing at you.
One minute it's: "I surrender! It's yours, take it!"
The next-- "Oh! No! It's mine, I want it. I want the control."
It's scary, you know. To give up control. To let Someone else direct your life.
Or is it? Maybe... just maybe... it's actually much more frightening to be in control. For one thing, are we really ever completely in control? No. And even when we most feel like we are, do things really go how they ought? No. Do we know all there is to know about every situation? No. Do we have a brilliant track record of always being right? NO. Can we see into the future? No. Do we always know what is really and truly best for ourselves? No. Are there things beyond our control, even when we pretend we are in control? Yes.
So... what? We cling to our flimsy, imaginary control-- making an absolute muddle of the few things we actually can control... instead of letting the loving, good, wise, all-knowing God control it???
When you think about it logically, it really doesn't make a lick of sense. Why on earth wouldn't you surrender everything to this God? The One who gave all for you? The One who created this whole world, including You? The One who loves you more than any other? The One who is ALWAYS right? The One who knows everything? The One who DESERVES your all?
Whatever IS the matter with us?!?
Well... we are selfish sinners. Far too often, our focus is extremely narrow-- almost exclusively filled with ourselves, our wants, our "needs"... And so, in our blindness, we think that in order to be happy, we must hang on to all of this stuff: the things we have, the people we love, the position we fill (or want to fill) in life... we think that if we give it all to God, He might do something awful, like make us do something we're scared of doing or take away someone we love dearly or force us to give away the things we cling to so fiercely.
So... what's the cure? Honestly, I don't know--besides the (hopefully) obvious "ask God for His help" and "you must be saved."
But I have figured out a few things that may help a bit, so I'll go ahead and share those. And if you have anything to add, please feel free! No, feel... compelled. ;) Seriously, I want to hear what you've learned as well. :)
Firstly, I have (finally) learned that surrender is not a one time deal. We must keep giving up our rights. Over. And over. And over. Constantly "resurrender" your things, your will, your dreams, your life... Keep asking God to just do His will with them. They aren't actually yours anyways: why not just say it like it is and "give" them to the One who owns them anyway? It will only help you to focus on Him and on eternity and others!
Secondly, we must focus on eternity. If you focus on the here and now, on this earth... it doesn't make much sense. Because what if God did take away something or someone you loved?? What if following God did hurt enormously?? If this is all there is, it doesn't make sense. Why would you go through that??
But. This isn't all there is, and sometimes things that make very little sense here on earth-- like loving your enemies, or risking your life for the cause of Christ, or losing a loved one-- thus growing closer to Christ-- make all the sense in eternity. Things are measured differently there.
Somehow, I think that once they got to eternity--those people who truly surrendered ALL: their very lives for Christ... they counted all of the trials and pain and apparent loss here on earth SO pathetically ridiculously insignificant and so very, very worth it for the ETERNAL rewards in heaven.
Listen, folks.
Time is SO, unbelievably, permanently, desperately short and limited. Eternity is imminent and never ends.We only get one shot at this time thing!! There is no retry button! There aren't any "extra lives"! And then... what we do here will effect... forever!!!!
There is NO way we can use our time wisely on our own. We must surrender our lives to Him, let Him guide us!! There isn't any other way.
And how can we not, really?? Think about the message of the video in the last post! He gave His all!
So... to surrender... we must realize our true position. It all belongs to God, really--regardless of what we think. And we don't really want to be in control: God's plan really IS the best one, and He really DOES know what He's doing, even if it seems to hurt us here on earth. The long term rewards are... unfathomable. God deserves our everything: it is only our reasonable service. This isn't anything extra. It's just the bare minimum in response to what He did for us.
Surrender. Rinse, repeat.
First of all, applause! Standing ovation, actually. This was a phenomenal post; I could hardly pick a favorite quote from it! But, so as to not disappoint:
ReplyDelete"It's scary, you know. To give up control. To let Someone else direct your life.
Or is it? Maybe... just maybe... it's actually much more frightening to be in control. For one thing, are we really ever completely in control? No. And even when we most feel like we are, do things really go how they ought? No. Do we know all there is to know about every situation? No. Do we have a brilliant track record of always being right? NO. Can we see into the future? No. Do we always know what is really and truly best for ourselves? No. Are there things beyond our control, even when we pretend we are in control? Yes."
This completely sums up what I've been learning the past few months. Being in control is thrilling; humans have a natural tendency towards control. The flesh is never satisfied and always demands more.
But I've learned that surrender - while extremely difficult and even painful at times and, as you said, a life-long process - surrender is really the only security one can grasp for the future. Culture shifts; decisions are thwarted; plans erased and re-written only to be erased again; hearts are sinful. Humanity is desperate for security, and our severe desperation for it shows when we depend on ourselves, the only "secure" person to trust. When one resigns his life to the will of God, all worries, fears, and doubts are overcome with His peace which surpasses all understanding.
Of course, surrendering one's life doesn't mean resigning from action. That's another thing that I have been learning. Just because you get the "warm fuzzies" after surrendering your life, that doesn't give you an excuse to ignore the commands of Christ in the name of "He'll figure it out for me." Though we may be in a pro-active state of surrender towards Christ, we need to be diligently seeking His face, asking for Him to reveal His plans to us and direct us in the path we should go.
Again, great post! Bravo and all that.
It's been a long time since I've commented, haha. And I like the new background. It's green.
Thank you, Rebeka dear!! :D I finally got it finished... remember how I talked about writing this ages ago? I'm glad you liked how it turned out. :) I think it is a good thing I waited because I've learned quite a bit since then. :)
ReplyDeleteVery good thoughts, thank you for adding them! You got it right. :) We surrender, but that doesn't mean we then sit back and do nothing.
Thank you, again!
Yes, it has been. Shame on you! :P But you didcomment, so thank you. I will forgive you this time. ;) Thank you, I like it too! :D Green is the best!
My favorite quote was this:
ReplyDelete"Firstly, I have (finally) learned that surrender is not a one time deal. We must keep giving up our rights. Over. And over. And over. Constantly "resurrender" your things, your will, your dreams, your life... Keep asking God to just do His will with them. They aren't actually yours anyways: why not just say it like it is and "give" them to the One who owns them anyway? It will only help you to focus on Him and on eternity and others!"
Whenever you do something, commit your way unto the Lord. Always make sure you are doing this.
And like Rebeka said, it is not very surrendering to be ignoring and disobeying God. Surrendering to God means
Charging.