“Anyone of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:33
Surrender can so often be thought of as giving something up, when in fact it is trusting in God that He will turn it into something greater. Surrender is giving it to the Lord instead of pushing it to the side; you are giving Him control to do whatever He wants. Being here has made me begin to really count the costs of things I have been forced to surrender. Even though giving things up in our life really sucks, He will always replace them with something better. In Matthew 13 it talks about a man who found a treasure in the middle of a huge field and then uses this treasure to purchase the land because he realizes that this land is valuable. When we discover the value of God’s truth for our lives we will surrender everything we own to gain it.
CAUTION: HERE IS WHEN IT GETS A LIL PERSONAL
I was recently hit with the question: “What part of your life is still not surrendered to God?” It’s hard to answer this question when I have so many things that come to mind. I am so blinded by short-term happiness. The only reason for this could be because I don’t fully trust the plans God has for me, or that they won’t look exactly how I want them to. I carry baggage because I would rather settle than be unsure of what the future holds. My mind immediately goes to the ‘what ifs’ instead of being confident that God will do all things to ensure I have what He promises me. I think that because I have been let down by so many people in the past it scares me to put such huge expectations on Him, but if anyone can fulfill them it’s Him.
I am still insecure of the Christian I am. I’m scared that when I go home people will think I’m a different person and reject me; or that I will have not changed at all and get ridiculed for it and have people watching my every move to see when I mess up. Ultimately, I’m scared of disappointing the people who truly believed in me. I want to have the confidence to talk to friends and family about Jesus without fear of it possibly ending in disagreement. Basically, I have let fear drive my actions and that’s something I have taken to the Lord to now turn it into something greater than what it is. Surrender is such a new concept to me because for so long I thought that I could have what I wanted and also be doing God’s will, but that’s just not how it works. If we refuse to be re-formed and instead cling to whatever God wants us to release, then how can He use us for His kingdom? An abundance of graces awaits us when we let go and let Him take over.
