Do we, as believers, often measure our faith by how successful we are? Meaning, do we gauge our faith merely in overcoming temptation, getting in the Word, meeting with our accountability partners, attending the Concert of Prayer service, etc? (the list can go on an on!). But shouldn't the true test of faith not be how "successful" we are, but how surrendered we are? This is a challenging thought!! If we are to be Christians ("Christ-like"), we should be utterly, absolutely, and completely surrendered to God. Jesus was so surrendered to the Father that "He humbled
Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." As we seek to be more surrendered to the Lord in our lives, we must get past two questions that many have a hard time with: "Is God good?" and "Is God Lord?" If God is so good, than why all the evil and hardship in this life? If He is in control, then why doesn't He do something about it? Until we can come to some resolve with these questions, we will find ourselves at constant battle with the Lord. After all, it is impossible to surrender to a God to whom we're suspicious. In order to mature and be surrendered, we must come to the conclusion that God is good and even though we may not understand it all and why He allows it, He is Lord. Without believing these two truths, intimacy with Him is impossible. If you are struggling in these areas, please find a loving, godly friend who can come alongside and help guide you into the truth of His Word. If this is you, please drop us an email so we can know how to encourage and pray for you.
As single adults, it is easy for us to adopt the false notion that we are in control of our lives. We make our own decisions. We decide how we spend our time. We generally don't have the many responsibilities of being a parent or a loving spouse, etc. To put it simply, we love running our own lives! This certainly gets in the way of how we interact with a God who not only wants our time, but our hearts. Thomas a Kempis said, "the love of thyself doth hurt thee more than anything in the world." Translated in modern English, it basically means, "if you think you are the center of the world, you're setting yourself up for some serious heartbreak!" (my loose translation) Surrender is hard because it means we must be willing to part with anything... and on a regular basis. Anything? Yup! Even the good things that come from God. It is often in the good things that we cling onto so tightly... it can become a trap and a snare that can sometimes take the place of God. For this reason (and it can be a VERY hard lesson!), He sometimes takes away that which He has given. He does not take it away to deprive us forever, but to give it back without the impurity of our sense of ownership. When we become captivated by the gift itself, it is easy to loose sight of the Giver.
In this process of learning how to surrender to the Lord, we will find ourselves being thankful
in every situation rather than complaining when things don't go the way we want. Are we truly surrendered if we thank God only for the good times? William Law said, "For to thank God only for such things as you like is no more a proper act of piety than to believe only what you see is an act of faith." True "Christ-likeness" comes when we are thankful no matter the circumstance.
But how do we do this? How do we surrender the things we love the most? How can we be thankful when times are hard? The answer is to allow God to define good and evil in our lives and allow Him to shape us according to His will. At first, this may simply be an act of the will. In time, however, God will change our hearts to where we will want to obey. We must die to our own desires so God can give us new ones. It's not easy, but it is simple! A life of surrender brings a deep, lasting, supernatural peace. Christ says to us, "My peace I give to you, not as the world gives... (John 14:27)." His peace is lasting. His peace is deeper and more satisfying than whatever we are clinging to in this life! "A thousand years from now, I'll have a pretty good understanding of why my life has gone the way it has; for now, I'm content to trust that God knows what He is doing (Gary Thomas)." Let's remember that surrender is the very essence-- and the greatest blessing-- of the Christian life.
~AF
