The Surrendered Life (Part I)

One of the most difficult challenges for today's believer is the absolute surrender of ourselves, especially our will, to God. I use the word "absolute" because from God's perspective, that is exactly what He demands. Jesus, the full representation of God on earth, made it plain to His disciples when He said: "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me" (Luke 9:23, KJV). In this Amplified Version, the verse reads: "If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [ disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [ cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also]." For sure this is no easy task, and it's no wonder Paul referred to the Christian calling as the high calling of God (Philippians 3:14).

What makes this so difficult is that we live in a secular humanistic world that encourages the pleasing of self above everything else. The Christian is not immune from this malady, and slowly but surely some have, and are, passively engaged in what is perhaps the most offensive of things to God - self idolatry. We become the centre of a world of our making, where the things that are truly important are only the things that makes us, the individual, feel happy. It is to this natural temptation to do that which is self-pleasing that Jesus unveiled what is meant to be a true disciple.

Lest we misunderstand the difficulty of the nature of The Call, it is worth remembering that during Jesus' day, the cross was a symbol of suffering and shame; carried by the condemned person to the place of his execution. Introduced by the Romans, it was the means to a slow and agonizing death, and this would have been the picture in the minds of the disciples as they listened to their Master speak. There would be nothing easy about being a follower of Jesus Christ, and nothing has changed since then. Today's believer who have accepted The Call, have also accepted the challenge of absolute surrender; the disowning of self and all that pertains to self for the purpose of conforming ourselves to the image of Christ, even if it means dying to achieve such a cause.

The life that is fully surrendered has only one focus. I believe this was what Paul had in mind when after doing an inventory of all he had accomplished before coming to Christ, he wrote: "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. (Philippians 3:7-10, KJV). Absolutely awesome stuff, and a great example of the surrendered life. Can you say the same thing as he did?