THE SURRENDERED LIFE

THE SURRENDERED LIFE

"I have been crucified with Christ . . . " -- Galatians 2:20

"To become one with Jesus Christ, a person my be willing not only to
give up sin, but also to surrender his whole way of looking at things.
Being born by the Spirit of God means that we must first be willing to
let go before we can grasp something else. The first thing we must
surrender is all of our pretense or deceit. What our Lord wants us to
present to Him is not our goodness, honesty, or our efforts to do
better, but real solid sin. Actually, that is all He can take from us.
And what HE gives in EXCHANGE for our sin is real solid righteousness.
But we must surrender all pretense that we are anything, and give up all
our claims of even being worthy of God's consideration.

Once we have done that, the Spirit of God will show us what we need to
surrender next. Along each step of this process, we will have to give up
our claims to our rights to ourselves. Are we willing to surrender our
grasp on all that we possess, our desires, and everything else in our
lives? Are we ready to be identified with the death of Jesus Christ?

We will suffer a sharp painful disillusionment before we totally
surrender. When people really see themselves as the Lord see them, it is
not the terribly offensive sins of the flesh that shock them, but the
awful nature of the pride of their own hearts opposing Jesus Christ.
When they see themselves in the light of the Lord, the shame, horror,
and desperate conviction hit home for them.

If you are faced with the question of whether or not to surrender, make
a determination to go on through the crisis, surrendering all that you
have and all that you are to Him. And God will then equip you to do all
that He requires of you." from the pen of Oswald Chambers -- MY UTMOST
FOR HIS HIGHEST -- available at the KESWICK ONLINE BOOKSTORE ---
www.americaskeswick.org
There must be a constant and increasing appreciation that though sin
still remains it does not have the mastery. There is a total difference
between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with
sin and the unregenerate complacent to sin. It is one thing for sin to
live in us: it is another for us to live in sin. It is of paramount
concern for the Christian and for the interests of his sanctification
that he should know that sin does not have the dominion over him, that
the forces of redeeming, regenerative, and sanctifying grace have been
brought to bear upon him in that which is central in his moral and
spiritual being, that he is the habitation of God through the Spirit,
and that Christ has been formed in him the hope of glory. -- Eric
Liddell

Good words for your consideration this morning.