-In Loving Surrender- Luke 20:20-25
9:31 PM
What does
it mean to surrender your life to Jesus? This is what many people have asked me
when they want to know about my faith. When I tell them that when I became
aware of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross -taking my place- for the forgiveness of
my sins, this brought conviction of my sins; that my heart was broken and
convicted, and how I actually felt a veil was removed from my eyes…there was
nothing I ever wanted more, then to give my entire self to Him! I knew I was
not able to continue living the same way anymore:
“I have been crucified with Christ [that is, in Him I
have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith [by
adhering to, relying on, and completely trusting] in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave Himself up for me.” (Galatians 2:20 AMP)
For me to
know I was loved in such a way, gave me a hunger and thirst for God and His
Word. I knew I could not waste more time of my life, living the same way I had
been living: to others and to please
myself! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
As we read
in today’s passage, we see how God’s people were under Roman domination -just
like I was dominated by the world, away from God- and they had to render to
Cesar whose image was stamped on the coin. For those of us who have accepted
Jesus as our Savior, we have become free from the dominion of sin (Galatians
5:1), so we should intentionally and out of love, give ourselves to God because
now His image is stamped on us! Isn’t that awesome?
“ In
Him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the good news of your
salvation, and [as a result] believed in Him, were stamped with the seal of the
promised Holy Spirit [the One promised by Christ] as
owned and protected [by God]. “ (Ephesians 1:13 AMP)
As we
continue in our Christian life, we encounter many difficulties and struggles and
some of these are within ourselves. There are areas of our lives that need to
be surrendered to God, and that only through His help, His strength and wisdom we
will be able to come through in victory! (Heb. 4:15-16)
“We soon
find it all but impossible to live the Christian life, with our own strength
and goodness. It is through God’s strength that we know courage, and through
his power that we know goodness. When we realize this, surrender becomes our
priority. In seeking to unite our will with God’s more fully, we don’t want a
fixed blissful union with him, one that is filled with passivity. Surrendering
to him means growth and progress. It is the freedom of moving forward with and
through him, so that each of our relationships and all of our work, worship,
suffering, and play reflect what he wants of us” (Judith C. Lechman)
This is my
prayer for all of us here at Women in the Word.
Mari
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