As I look back over this past Sunday, I am compelled to examine how much of my "self" is fully and irrevocably surrendered to Christ. Of course, we would all like to say, "Oh yes, I have surrendered my life to Christ. I did that on ***** (insert date, time, details)." But I the question I must ask is how much have we surrendered and how long does it stay surrendered.
Being out of control is not a good feeling ~ remember feelings are fickle and not trustworthy. Control is highly overrated. When you are in control it means God isn't, therefore you become unsurrendered. Recalling a definition of control, it is along the lines of "restraint" or "to hold back". I think God desires not only for us to relinquish control of our lives to Him but to also abandon our own desires, hopes and dreams in order to fulfill His for our lives.
There is no doubt in my mind that every person on this earth has a God-appointed divine destiny for his/her life. The RESPONSE to our Heavenly Father in this destiny often determines if and when this plan develops and comes to pass. Why are we so hesitant to give it all up to Him? Has He ever proved to be untrustworthy? Has He ever misrepresented Himself as something He isn't or disguised Himself to persuade us into following Him? That answer is unequivocally, NO -- not now, not ever.
Jesus Christ desires that we come to Him willingly. God is not a puppet master of sorts, hanging out in the heavenlies to pull our strings. If He was, there would be no need for us to surrender. He could manipulate anyone and everyone He chose to at any moment. But He doesn't. He waits on us, with open arms and all He asks of us is to "Come". He doesn't require that we clean ourselves up first or that we somehow try to make things "right" before we approach Him. He only asks that we "come". I cannot think of anything else more simple than that. So why do we make it so hard?
Our human, fleshly nature desires to be in control -- you know, the whole "in charge" of one's destiny crap. Giving up control is often seen as some sort of weakness. Perhaps in human eyes it is but, honestly, I could care less about pleasing anyone aside from God. Ultimately, it is what HE thinks that truly matters. Reading from The Message Remix, let's examine the Beatitudes found in the book of Matthew:
"You are blessed when you're at the end of your rope.
With less of you there is more of God and His rule."
That word "rule" used here does not mean dominate, it means "will". It goes right into John 3:30 about "He must increase and I must decrease". The Message reads like this, "This is the assigned moment for Him to move into the center, while I slip off into the sidelines." I don't think any human being desires to remain in obscurity. We all want to be "noticed" by someone. Jesus Christ's life was very much obscure from the popular crowd, the main stream life. Everything He did and said went against the "grain" of religion. Jesus does not desire that we become more religious at all. His desire is that we come into relationship with Him~complete and total dependence on someone (Him) other than ourselves. Today, I will end with this:
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to Me. Get away with Me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with Me and work with Me -- watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of Grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with Me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Matthew 11:28-30
The Message Remix
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