Everyone has a defining moment in their lives that decides who they are--God knows, but we don't. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane when he pleaded for another way and way out, but, nevertheless, He finally surrendered His will to the Father's plan and relinquished His life to His control completely, knowing the consequences of going to the cross on our behalf. Jesus doesn't ask us to do anything He didn't do Himself, and carrying a cross for a crown someday was one of them.
Romans 12:1 (ESV) says that you must "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Surrender is an ongoing discipline though and must be renewed as each day begins and we walk with the Lord all over again. We are to go from faith to faith and increase in our knowledge of God by our good deeds (cf. Col. 1:10). We cannot say yes to God without first saying no to self, and ultimately the devil, too. Lordship salvation entails just that--living in surrendered relationship and being obedient to His revealed or preceptive will. We all encounter a moment of truth, as it were, and have our "Garden of Gethsemane" moment.
Galatians 2:20 says that Paul is crucified with Christ, and he no longer lives, but Christ lives in him. Our life is not so much a changed life or new life, but an exchanged, surrendered, and relinquished life conformed to His will (cf. Romans 12:2). We all need to prove the will of God through our lives. Jesus lived His life in submission to the Father in a subordinate role, temporarily setting aside His privileges of Deity, to save mankind, so that the Father could impute Christ's righteousness to our behalf and benefit those who had been insubordinate. Christ was the vicarious offering and sacrifice to the Father fulfilling all His will
None of us would have come to the Father without being drawn. He compels us to come in [compelle intrarre in Latin] God as our Potter is able to make us in His image as we grow in grace from faith to faith. We are simply clay in the Potter's hands that can be used for God's glory as vessels of honor.
But before the filling, comes the emptying! Jesus said that we must take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him (cf. Mark 8:34). We must live our lives in His will mainly because the Father knows best, and has the best of intentions for us in a plan suited for us and our talents, time, opportunities, money, resources, and gifts. But they cannot be used to God's glory without being surrendered to Him; God cannot pour His riches into hands already full; we must forsake our own riches and give Christ ownership over all our blessings--we own nothing, but are just stewards of God's riches.
Romans 6 suggests three phases of faith going from knowing the truth, to reckoning on it, to yielding to it with our wills in obedience. Samuel told Saul that "to obey is better than sacrifice" and we must realize the truth that obedience and believing are correlated and interrelated (cf. Heb. 3:18-19; 4:6), as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his dictum: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." Our whole lives are a complete and total living, a sacrificial offering to the Lord in obedience and surrender to His will.
James Russell Lowell wrote, "Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth and Falsehood, For the good or evil side, Then it is the brave man chooses, While the coward stands aside." Don't we see today's vacillating, wishy-washy, pragmatic politicians not concerned with what's right, but only what's convenient or expedient to fit their agenda? There is no neutral ground, one must decide which side of the fence he sits on. The most cowardly thing is to not make any stand, but to be a bystander and passively let evil takeover: As Edmund Burke, a philosopher has said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Our relationship to the truth starts with a willingness to listen, understanding, acceptance, faith and trust, obedience, and culminates in love for the truth--a fruit of saving faith. Soli Deo Gloria!
Romans 12:1 (ESV) says that you must "present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." Surrender is an ongoing discipline though and must be renewed as each day begins and we walk with the Lord all over again. We are to go from faith to faith and increase in our knowledge of God by our good deeds (cf. Col. 1:10). We cannot say yes to God without first saying no to self, and ultimately the devil, too. Lordship salvation entails just that--living in surrendered relationship and being obedient to His revealed or preceptive will. We all encounter a moment of truth, as it were, and have our "Garden of Gethsemane" moment.
Galatians 2:20 says that Paul is crucified with Christ, and he no longer lives, but Christ lives in him. Our life is not so much a changed life or new life, but an exchanged, surrendered, and relinquished life conformed to His will (cf. Romans 12:2). We all need to prove the will of God through our lives. Jesus lived His life in submission to the Father in a subordinate role, temporarily setting aside His privileges of Deity, to save mankind, so that the Father could impute Christ's righteousness to our behalf and benefit those who had been insubordinate. Christ was the vicarious offering and sacrifice to the Father fulfilling all His will
None of us would have come to the Father without being drawn. He compels us to come in [compelle intrarre in Latin] God as our Potter is able to make us in His image as we grow in grace from faith to faith. We are simply clay in the Potter's hands that can be used for God's glory as vessels of honor.
But before the filling, comes the emptying! Jesus said that we must take up our cross, deny ourselves, and follow Him (cf. Mark 8:34). We must live our lives in His will mainly because the Father knows best, and has the best of intentions for us in a plan suited for us and our talents, time, opportunities, money, resources, and gifts. But they cannot be used to God's glory without being surrendered to Him; God cannot pour His riches into hands already full; we must forsake our own riches and give Christ ownership over all our blessings--we own nothing, but are just stewards of God's riches.
Romans 6 suggests three phases of faith going from knowing the truth, to reckoning on it, to yielding to it with our wills in obedience. Samuel told Saul that "to obey is better than sacrifice" and we must realize the truth that obedience and believing are correlated and interrelated (cf. Heb. 3:18-19; 4:6), as Dietrich Bonhoeffer said in his dictum: "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes." Our whole lives are a complete and total living, a sacrificial offering to the Lord in obedience and surrender to His will.
James Russell Lowell wrote, "Once to every man and nation, Comes the moment to decide, In the strife of Truth and Falsehood, For the good or evil side, Then it is the brave man chooses, While the coward stands aside." Don't we see today's vacillating, wishy-washy, pragmatic politicians not concerned with what's right, but only what's convenient or expedient to fit their agenda? There is no neutral ground, one must decide which side of the fence he sits on. The most cowardly thing is to not make any stand, but to be a bystander and passively let evil takeover: As Edmund Burke, a philosopher has said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
Our relationship to the truth starts with a willingness to listen, understanding, acceptance, faith and trust, obedience, and culminates in love for the truth--a fruit of saving faith. Soli Deo Gloria!
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