Surrender Pt. 2

Isaiah 64:8 – “Yet You, Lord, are our Father.  We are the clay, You are the Potter; We are the work of your hand.” 

It is so important to let God work in our lives.  We need to stop resisting and get out of His way.  The more parts of our life we surrender, the more room we give the Holy spirit to work in our lives.

We can find a number of examples in the bible of people surrendering to God’s will.  Abram left his home and went to an unknown land becoming Abraham.  Moses led the nation of Israel out of Egypt and was God’s instrument in delivering the Law to His people.  David is called a man after God’s own heart.  Esther stood in the gap for her people to prevent genocide.  After being taken away to a foreign land, Daniel stayed true to God and defied the orders of Nebuchadnezzar.  And these are just a few.

Multiple times, Paul calls himself a servant of Christ.  My favorite is in Romans 1:1 in the New King James, “Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ…”  The Greek word Paul used here is doulos which is more than just a servant, more like a voluntary slave.  Paul was making it clear he was surrendered to Christ.

Jesus Himself provides a powerful example of surrender for us to follow.  In Philippians 2:6-8, Paul encourages us to take on the same mindset as Jesus: “Who, being in the very nature of God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to His own advantage; rather, He made Himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!”  

Jesus, second person of the Trinity, surrendered Himself to not only become human (the Creator becoming one of His created) but also willingly surrendered to endure a horrendously gruesome death. And He did it for us! Because of His deep abiding love for us!

We eventually have to ask what kinds of things can we surrender to God? I think Proverbs 3:5-8 gives us some insight. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him and, and He will make your paths straight.

“all your heart,” “all your ways.”  Interesting word ‘all.’  Rather inclusive of, well pretty much everything.  Not much in the way of wiggle room.  Obviously, there is not enough room here to cover everything but here are a few ideas to consider.

Possessions:

-       Do we really truly own anything? Anything and everything really does belong to God; we are blessed because He allows us to take care of some of it for Him.  Some of us are granted more, some less, but we need to remember to not let these things get between us and God.

-       A personal example: I love to read and I have a quite sizable collection of books.  They cover a wide range of topics from fiction, fantasy, and biography, to science, history, and theology.  And that’s not all.  Several years ago, we had a couple of wild fires, each destroying several hundred homes in and around the city where I live.  This got me to thinking about how I would feel if I lost all my books and I was having a hard time even just thinking about if that were to happen.  It took some time but I have been able to let that go.  It would be disappointing but I cannot let that loss, or potential for loss, stand between me and God.

A Position:

-       Whether it is a career or some sort of social standing, what do these things really bring us.  We get caught up in the position, perks, benefits, our own importance or whatever it is that strokes our ego.  It somehow becomes our identity; it can even start to overshadow our true identity as a Child of God.  This is the much greater position.

Our Plans:

-       The things ‘I’ want to do. It can be kind of selfish when you think about it.  Not that we can’t do some of the things we would like to do but there are many examples in scripture where we are told to put others first, to serve them and to serve God.

-       Sometimes it is not that we aren’t serving God and others, spreading God Word, or bringing glory to God.  It’s in how or where we are choosing to serve.  Are we truly following the path God has laid out before us?  Some people have very specific plans God has called them to follow, some of us it doesn’t always seem to be as clearly defined.  I think it is definitely a good idea to check in with God from time to time to make sure we are still on the same page.

People:

-       There will be people that will always be a part of our life, some will be family, some friends.  Others will simply pass through our lives for some shorter period of time.  You may also experience people that come and go multiple times in your life.  We need to enjoy the time we have with those who become close to us and strive to keep these relationships healthy.  Thank God for those you have in your life; past, present, and future.  Be a blessing to them and lift them up to God.

-       You never know how, when or where you may meet someone who may impact your life, or you theirs.  Keep yourself open to the possibilities and think about how great it will be to spend eternity with them.

-       A personal example:  I met Obednego when I went on a mission trip to Sierra Leone.  He is a pastor that worked with the church there in the city of Bo where we were working.  I don’t know how or why but it was one of those things where you just click with someone.  I really enjoyed spending the little bit of time we were able to share.  I remember the fire he had in his heart for God.  He called me “My Giant” which stemmed from the relative difference in our size.  I was blessed to be able to see him again the next year when I went back for a second trip.  That was several years ago and I don’t know if I will ever see Obednego again in this life, but I do look forward to seeing him in heaven.

Ultimately there is one very specific thing we are called to surrender to God.  Ourselves!  

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will find it.” (Mt. 16:24-25) 

That really sums it up.  The ultimate surrender.