Surrender
We will never find peace until we are willing to surrender to God’s care (Rm 6). Surrender, however, is often misunderstood. God will not use force. Our choice to enter His kingdom must be freely given. Therefore, we must be willing to let Him impact our lives. The essential point is being willing. It is not the determination to do everything right. The issue is whether or not God is good enough to trust with our
lives. A performance focus is counterproductive. To avoid this, we must see the nature of God’s lordship correctly. The following story may help.
A homeless pauper looks longingly through a large window of a beautiful ansion. The master of the house walks outside, and, seeing the desperate condition of the poor waif, takes him in as his own son. Does that action stop the necessary working of the master’s household? Are the necessary chores abolished? Is the harmonious cooperation of the staff and master as facilitated by the household structure (law) voided in that transaction? “Do we then make void the law” (Rm 3:31) by this act of
grace? No. “Rather we uphold the law.” For grace is a necessary part of the whole. If seen appropriately, it motivates a willing cooperation.
Yet do you suppose that the master brought the pauper in and sternly told him what to do and how to do it? Of course not! The master is gracious and lives by the covenant of love / grace. He wins the child to his purpose and ways over time through a loving relationship. The master does not act for the rules sake, rather he knows that cooperation with the natural order of things is absolutely essential to the child’s growth and happiness. His communication shows an understanding of the child’s
circumstances and background. He knows that no two people require the same approach. He meets resistance with patience and understanding, not demands, judgment, and condemnation. His purpose is to win a heart cooperation, not simply compliance. He acts for the child’s sake, not for some abstract commitment to law and obedience (Mk 2:27). The key to submission then, is in the nature of the master.
Our self-centered or sinful nature originates from the sense that our happiness is up to us. If there is no one else taking care of us, it only makes sense. However, we have a better option. God offers to take that responsibility. Our surrender simply places us in His care. Surrender allows us to “let go” of our needs and cares and “let God” deal with them. (Mt 11;28-30, Rm 8:28). There is no need to be self-centered. We can trust that God is caring for us.
Dissatisfaction is the devil’s tool. That discontentment opens the door for arkness. Eve opened that door when she accepted the serpent’s lies. In a few moments, the idea that she didn’t have what she needed to be happy turned everything around. We must trust that God is indeed working in ALL THINGS for our good, and be content. If we fail to accept our circumstances as God’s good in process, worry and anxiety take the
place of peace.
Nothing destroys our peace more than failing to let go of our need life or refusing to be content with our God ordered circumstances. When things don’t work out the way we want, our tendency is to feel sorry for ourselves or get frustrated with God’s timetable. We become preoccupied with longings for something other than what we have. We need to accept our circumstances as God’s blessings now or in process (Rm
8:28). In “letting go and letting God” we find circumstantial peace.
Hannah Smith speaks insightfully about accepting our problematic circumstances in her book, The God of all Comfort. “He may not have ordered them, but He is in them somewhere, and He is in them to compel, even the most grievous, to work together for our good. The "second causes" of the wrong may be full of malice and wickedness, but faith never sees second causes. It sees only the hand of God behind the second causes. They are all under His control, and not one of them can touch us except with His knowledge and permission. The thing itself that happens cannot perhaps be
said to be the will of God, but by the time its effects reach us they have become God's will for us, and must be accepted as from His hands.”
Surrender also deals with the issue of moral peace (Rm 6). We are made right with God through faith in Jesus sacrifice. However, we must be on the side of right to find moral peace with ourselves. We can seek this in one of two ways. We can focus on
our behavior, seeking to obey everything our conscience tells us, or we can submit to God according to the principles of grace. Grace turns the tables, making the nature of the master the issue. It requires us to ask the question, how would love relate to me here?
If we submit to God, according to the principles of grace, we can have peace with ourselves while being anything but perfect because we are not looking at our performance but God’s. It is a spiritual law that the person who sees their constant need of God’s mercy and understanding and takes hold of that experience by faith,
will respond with gratitude and love and be most devoted in their work for their master.
Copyright Patrick Fagenstrom, 12/11
lives. A performance focus is counterproductive. To avoid this, we must see the nature of God’s lordship correctly. The following story may help.
A homeless pauper looks longingly through a large window of a beautiful ansion. The master of the house walks outside, and, seeing the desperate condition of the poor waif, takes him in as his own son. Does that action stop the necessary working of the master’s household? Are the necessary chores abolished? Is the harmonious cooperation of the staff and master as facilitated by the household structure (law) voided in that transaction? “Do we then make void the law” (Rm 3:31) by this act of
grace? No. “Rather we uphold the law.” For grace is a necessary part of the whole. If seen appropriately, it motivates a willing cooperation.
Yet do you suppose that the master brought the pauper in and sternly told him what to do and how to do it? Of course not! The master is gracious and lives by the covenant of love / grace. He wins the child to his purpose and ways over time through a loving relationship. The master does not act for the rules sake, rather he knows that cooperation with the natural order of things is absolutely essential to the child’s growth and happiness. His communication shows an understanding of the child’s
circumstances and background. He knows that no two people require the same approach. He meets resistance with patience and understanding, not demands, judgment, and condemnation. His purpose is to win a heart cooperation, not simply compliance. He acts for the child’s sake, not for some abstract commitment to law and obedience (Mk 2:27). The key to submission then, is in the nature of the master.
Our self-centered or sinful nature originates from the sense that our happiness is up to us. If there is no one else taking care of us, it only makes sense. However, we have a better option. God offers to take that responsibility. Our surrender simply places us in His care. Surrender allows us to “let go” of our needs and cares and “let God” deal with them. (Mt 11;28-30, Rm 8:28). There is no need to be self-centered. We can trust that God is caring for us.
Dissatisfaction is the devil’s tool. That discontentment opens the door for arkness. Eve opened that door when she accepted the serpent’s lies. In a few moments, the idea that she didn’t have what she needed to be happy turned everything around. We must trust that God is indeed working in ALL THINGS for our good, and be content. If we fail to accept our circumstances as God’s good in process, worry and anxiety take the
place of peace.
Nothing destroys our peace more than failing to let go of our need life or refusing to be content with our God ordered circumstances. When things don’t work out the way we want, our tendency is to feel sorry for ourselves or get frustrated with God’s timetable. We become preoccupied with longings for something other than what we have. We need to accept our circumstances as God’s blessings now or in process (Rm
8:28). In “letting go and letting God” we find circumstantial peace.
Hannah Smith speaks insightfully about accepting our problematic circumstances in her book, The God of all Comfort. “He may not have ordered them, but He is in them somewhere, and He is in them to compel, even the most grievous, to work together for our good. The "second causes" of the wrong may be full of malice and wickedness, but faith never sees second causes. It sees only the hand of God behind the second causes. They are all under His control, and not one of them can touch us except with His knowledge and permission. The thing itself that happens cannot perhaps be
said to be the will of God, but by the time its effects reach us they have become God's will for us, and must be accepted as from His hands.”
Surrender also deals with the issue of moral peace (Rm 6). We are made right with God through faith in Jesus sacrifice. However, we must be on the side of right to find moral peace with ourselves. We can seek this in one of two ways. We can focus on
our behavior, seeking to obey everything our conscience tells us, or we can submit to God according to the principles of grace. Grace turns the tables, making the nature of the master the issue. It requires us to ask the question, how would love relate to me here?
If we submit to God, according to the principles of grace, we can have peace with ourselves while being anything but perfect because we are not looking at our performance but God’s. It is a spiritual law that the person who sees their constant need of God’s mercy and understanding and takes hold of that experience by faith,
will respond with gratitude and love and be most devoted in their work for their master.
Copyright Patrick Fagenstrom, 12/11