Surrender
When spirituality gets discussed in our culture, there are some messages from the Bible that everybody likes hearing:
“No matter how much you mess up, God still loves you.” Everyone likes that one.
“You are so busy and exhausted- God wants you to be rested and refreshed.” That sounds good too.
But what about these?
“You need to surrender. You are sinful, stubborn, and stiff-necked. You are self-centered and self-promoting, your own desires are very often self-serving, your ability to perceive your own sin is blinded by self-deception, you need to bend the knee, you need to submit your heart, you need to confess your sin, you need to surrender.”
Surrender is a hard word.
I will name one person who I know for sure doesn’t like to hear that: Me
In my life, and in your life, there is always the question before us: who is driving?
I can have a rebellious heart, telling God to stay out of my car altogether, that I will go where I want when I want with my life. Or I can have a divided heart, keeping Jesus in the car, but driving myself, saying to him, “I will keep this area, this pattern, this relationship under my own control. I will hang onto this grudge. I will enjoy the pleasure I get from this habit. I know you want full surrender, but I don’t trust you.”
The problem is, living with a divided heart makes us miserable. Sometimes we can keep the guilt vague and fuzzy. Sometimes it will be vivid. But if our heart is sensitive towards God and we keep him out of the driver’s seat, the guilt will gnaw at us. Only one thing will bring ultimate peace: a surrendered heart.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)
I turn my life and will over to God. I seek to obey the best I can. You lose a life but you gain a life- a life much better than the one you lost. In the end, it turns out that nothing you lost was really worth keeping anyway.
-John Ortberg
Notes
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