Surrender
Despite the circumstances of our time we must be open and
free to live for God’s will for the future –for brotherly community and the
kingdom of God. We must be ready and willing to give up our resistance to God;
then he will work in us through his Holy Spirit.
God is always ready, always there. It is we who are not
ready for his cause. If we would only yield to God’s authority, to the way of
Jesus, and to the power of the Spirit, then the flame which gives light to the
whole world could be kindled.
We know Jesus’
commands: “Leave everything you have, and come follow me! Sell all your
possessions.” “Do not wait to bury your father.” “Leave your fishing boat and
your tools and come with me!”
The disciples, too, knew Jesus’ commands. They also knew
that every man –each in his own way – is “rich” enough to resist them by
holding on even to the little he has; to tell Jesus, “I cannot come.” That is
why they asked, horrified, “Then how can anyone be saved?” Jesus answered, “It
is impossible for men. But with God all things are possible.”
If we open ourselves to God’s working and give up our
self-will, he is always ready to give us faith and love.
God wants us to ask him for help. It is not that he cannot
or does not want to act without our asking, but he waits for us to open our
hearts and lives so that he and only he can act.
Many people ponder why God is like this, why he doesn’t
force his will on men. But that is how God is. He waits for our readiness. It
is true that he punishes individuals and nations to call them to repentance,
but he never forces his goodness on them. If a parent were to take his child by
the throat and force his good intentions on him, the child would instinctively
feel that this was not love. For the same reason, God does not force his will
on anyone. So we are confronted by a momentous question: Are we willing to
surrender ourselves to God voluntarily? Are we willing to open the windows of
our hearts so that God in his goodness can enter and take over?
We have to give ourselves wholeheartedly to God, and if we
fail, we must give ourselves again. We all need daily forgiveness for our sins
and failures. But what matters is whether we want to be faithful – faithful to
the end of our lives. This means surrendering everything – our self-will, our
hopes for personal happiness, our private property, even our weaknesses – and
believing in God and in Christ. That is all that is asked of anyone. Jesus does
not expect perfection, but he wants us to give ourselves wholeheartedly.
What is true and unconditional surrender? A person may yield
to a stronger person, or an army to a stronger army. One may yield to God
because he is almighty, or because one fears his judgment. None of this is full
surrender. Only if one experiences that God is good –and that he alone is
good–is it possible to surrender to him unconditionally one’s whole heart,
soul, and being.
When a person has surrendered to God with heart and soul, he
will then seek others in whom the same love is clearly expressed and surrender
to them also. But he can commit himself to others only if his first commitment
is to God.
If we ever found a group – even if it were a much smaller
group than ours – where the love of Jesus was expressed more fully and clearly
than it is among us, I hope and believe that we would want to join them.
God must lead us to the point where we recognize how
wretched and weak we are –yes, how poor in spirit and completely helpless.
Whoever feels even the least bit strong must have his weakness revealed to him.
When God shows us how wretched and poor we actually are, we feel completely
helpless before him. But then he helps us with his grace and strengthens us
with his unending love. We are absolutely dependent on God, on Christ, and on
the Holy Spirit. There is no other help.
Surrendering to the
will of Jesus means becoming one with him and with one another. Jesus fought so
hard to surrender his will to the Father’s that he sweated Lk. 22:42 drops of
blood. Evil powers surrounded him and tried to cause his downfall, but he
remained faithful: his attitude was “Thy will, not my will.” This should be our
attitude, too, in all questions, even if we are persecuted for our faith.
Whatever happens, imprisonment or even death, we should say, “Thy will, not my
will.”
Submission
Christ says, “You did not choose me; I chose you. I
appointed you and put you in your place; you shall go and bear fruit, fruit
that shall last.” This is so very important: “I put you in your place.”* How often
a person causes terrible harm when he is not satisfied with his place in life.
Such dissatisfaction leads to hatred. We should love one another and accept the
place God has given each of us. Jn.
15:16
When Jesus sent two disciples to fetch a donkey’s colt on
Palm Sunday, they had no other task in the whole world more important than
fetching it. If someone had said to them, “You are called to greater things;
anyone can fetch a donkey,” and they had not done it, they would have been
disobedient. But there was nothing greater for them at that moment than to
fetch the donkey for Christ. For myself and for each individual I wish that we
might do every task, great or small, in this obedience. There is nothing
greater than obedience to Christ. Mt.
21:1-7
Humility
Jesus calls each of us to be humble. If a person seeks human
greatness, Christian community is not the place for him. Any one of us might be
tempted by ambition, but we must take an attitude against such temptation.
It is good to be weak. Our human weakness is no hindrance to
the kingdom of God, as long as we do not use it as an excuse for our sins. Read
where Paul writes that the Lord will show himself in the most glorious way
through our weakness. Certainly this is not the most important passage for the
church as a whole, but it is perhaps the most important passage in the Gospel
as regards personal discipleship. 2
Corinthians 12:7–9,
In reading the Gospel of Mark, I have been struck by how
Jesus emphasizes our need for humility. He did not come to be served but “to
serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” This must be our way too,
even though we know we fall very short of fulfilling it. Mk. 10:45
The Beatitudes do not
call for great saints who shine in the world, but for lowly people. Mt. 5:3-12
If you know you are sometimes critical and lack humility,
then seek humility. Humility is a virtue that one can decide for. It softens
the heart and makes a person open for God. Criticism is not necessarily wrong;
it can be positive. But it can also be very destructive.
We should not think too much about our small hearts or our
weak characters. No one is pure and good except Jesus. His is the only really
healthy character, and in his unending mercy, he can purify our hearts for his
purpose. Let us give ourselves to him so he can lead us and use us as he will.
Let us turn our back on the temptation of Cain, who envied his brother’s
closeness to God. Let us be joyful in simply belonging to Jesus, and willing to
let him place us where we can bear the most fruit to the glory of God. Gen. 4:5
If we accept the weakness and smallness of our lives in a
way that leads us to humility before God, we will recognize that our only help
lies in complete surrender to him and dependence on him. It might be a very
painful recognition, but the victory will be life!
Paul says, “There must be no room for rivalry and personal
vanity among you.” He does not only mean the vanity of wanting to look
beautiful –which is also unchristian– but the religious vanity of people who
want to shine among men and be honored by them. There should be no room for
such vanity among us. He continues, “You must humbly reckon others better than
yourselves.” That is the opposite of wanting to outshine one’s brother or
sister. If we want to follow Jesus, how can we want to make ourselves great or
important? Jesus “humbled himself, and in obedience accepted even death – death
on a cross.” Phil. 2:3 Phil. 2:8
Comments