We often fear what we will become if we surrender everything over to God. I️ mean, we fear that He will make us do something that we don’t readily want to do, or go somewhere where we don’t want to go. Deep down in the crevices of our soul, we believe that God is not truly worth living for. And as a result, we believe the lie that we need to “hold back some.”
Confront the Lie
What if instead of listening to our earth-bound, flesh-driven way of looking at life, we tried to understand God’s point of view? Many of us get wrapped up in hiding our true selves rather than allowing God to expose what we wrestle with deep inside. For this reason, God often has to expose our sinfulness to bring us to a place of healing. And ultimately, healing is the best thing for each of us.
If we’re not careful, we find ourselves running from God. We run to places of comfort, recreation, and ease. Our hiding places look like Netflix binges and a big pour of wine. Anything to escape the elephant that is sitting right there with us in the room.
We fear if we spend time in the Word daily. We will bear the crux of conviction.
Or we will have to let go of some habit that we hold dear.
Maybe we’re afraid our reputation will be scarred,
Or we need to tell some relationships bye-bye.
We often think that we know better than God. Within the darkest nooks and crannies of our hearts hide the parts of us that need exposing. Contrarily, God’s light is meant to bring healing. So why then, do we try to hide from God?
God Wants the Best for You
It is difficult to believe that God is after the best version of you, so we will often fight it. In time, our perfect God wants us at our best, and nothing subtracted. He wants a person of character, integrity, honesty, and more. In fact, God will go to great lengths to expose our superficial selves. Like a fiery furnace. A lion’s den. Or a torn down wall.
God will allow opportunities to come in our lives to reveal our area of vulnerability. I️ tend to think less of these opportunities since, from my point of view, they appear as distractions or traffic jams. But once again, God reveals that He is working. In his precious gift of time, God reveals that a wall of rubbish needs rebuilding. Read Nehemiah 3.
In This Together
There is one common thread in all of humanity. One thing that draws us all together. We are bound by S-I️-N with no recompense unless we recognize our need for a Savior. We can build temporary things during our earthly lifetime, or we can work on something eternal.
The beauty lies in God’s unrelenting pursuit of us. Involved in all the details, people matter to Him. And if we allow the lengths and depths of God’s love to take root, we will be empowered with an inner strength that the Holy Spirit provides and be led to a life of surrender.
When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
Whatever God is calling you to do today, work at it with all your might. Surrender to the will of God. Whether the task is big or small…it doesn’t matter, for we are called to do all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). In God’s economy, all of His work is worthy.
Let’s not be like the nobles of Tekoite (Neh. 3:5) who were unwilling to “stoop to serve their Lord.” Who unwilling allowed God to be glorified. Instead, let’s be a people who do all for the glory of God. So, my friend, join me and let’s surrender.