“How long will my enemy be exalted over me?” Psalm13:2
How long will this sin control me? George MacDonald once wrote: “A man is in bondage to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself.” One of the most vital discoveries we can make as believers is the greatest enemy we will battle in this life is not Satan but ourselves. If Satan died today you would sin tomorrow. Our miscalculation of our ability to do the things we should not is at the root of much of our bondage. We measure sin outwardly but Christ measures inwardly, He looks at the heart. Our ability to keep our most depraved thoughts from manifesting themselves in action does not make us less sinful just more secretive. Paul writes in Romans 2:16 “in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.” This is a sobering prospect that the secret thoughts of our hearts will be judged. What shall we do? How do we break free from the sins that control us? The golden key to our liberation is the “good death”. You cannot sin if you are dead. The flesh must die! Is this not what the scriptures tell us again and again. Jesus tells us we must die to ourselves, pick up our cross and follow him. Paul says it is no longer I who live but Christ who dwells in me. The death of the flesh for the life of Christ does not seem like a bad deal. The problem is that we are so consumed with controlling our own lives, that we have closed the door on the One we should be giving control to. We are afraid of dying but it is the only way to living. Until we realize that victory is not something to be seized but someone to be released, we will continue to be controlled by the sins that render our lives impotent.
surrender
“When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” Mark 8:34
This week I received a great question from someone about Surrender and what it actually means I thought I would share my response:
Sorry it’s taken me a bit to get back to you. I am glad you enjoyed Door of Hope. In regard to Surrender it is important to remember that we are not submitting our lives to an ideology but an actual personality. Neither is it a feeble attempt to lay aside our desires but receiving from Christ His desires. I would say that according to Jesus, surrender is coming to a place in life where He becomes ultimate. Where we are not seeking Him for what we can get from Him, but because His will (that is His wants) is our deepest desire. Jesus is not a cosmic Killjoy who neither robs us of our desires nor is He a cosmic Santa Claus who gives everything we ever thought we wanted. I would say that surrender is when we recognize that life is not about us but Him, and He in return gives us life, which is better than anything else we could have asked for. God does care about the minutia of our lives but we must first gauge whether our relationship with Him is in place. He will never give us anything that would hinder His relationship with us. Bringing us into communion with Himself is His primary concern. It is only then He can effectively use us.
Let us deny the lies of what we think is best for us and come alive in Him who is True and faithful. Surrender to Jesus is the only place we will find freedom from the tyranny of the flesh.