I Surrender All

All to Jesus I surrender
All to Him I freely give
I will ever love and trust Him
In His presence daily live
 
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

Did you find yourself singing that blessed old hymn? I bet many of you did. Not just the first verse, but the rest as well. I still am, just in my head, of course, where even I can sing well. Those words are powerful, moving, and stir my soul.

My only question is, do I?

Do I truly surrender all to Jesus? To Him do I freely give all? All that I have. All that I am. All that I need, and want, and fear, and foresee, and . . . everything else. Can I truly say that I give it all to Him?

I know I should. I know I can. I know He will accept it. But will I give? Will I give it all to Him?

What does that mean, anyway? To give it all to Jesus. If I give my possessions to Jesus, does that mean I empty my savings accounts into the offering plate and sign my house over to the church? To give my life to Him do I have to quit my job, live in poverty, and go live in the jungle as a missionary?

Maybe, but not necessarily. To give all to Him means to give up control. That means He may appoint me as steward over what He has given me, to govern and care for a certain set of possessions. It may also mean giving it away. It depends on what He tells me to do.

To give my children to God does not mean I don't have to care for them, nurture them, raise them and provide for them. I give them to Him and He in turns appoints me to watch over them. I have no less responsibility, I still have authority over them, but they are not truly mine. They belong to Him and are simply, for a time, in my care.

And so it is with all things. To give all to Jesus means to understand that whatever we have is not really ours. Everything was created by God, through God, for God. In opposition to common belief, God did not create this world for us. He created it for His glory, and appointed us as caretakers. He did not give it to us, it still belongs to Him.

The trials and struggles we go through also are not ours, because our very lives, and the lives of our family are not ours or theirs. Everyone is held in God's hand. He alone is sovereign. He alone has final say over what does, or does not, happen. We cannot hold too tightly to either the good or the hard, because neither are ours.

To say we give all to Jesus is simply to acknowledge reality. It is already His. We really can not give it to Him because He already has it. What we are doing is accepting the truth. We are facing the reality of what is. I cannot surrender possession that is not mine. What I surrender is any false sense of ownership I might be holding on to.

To surrender all to Jesus means, as those words above say, to trust Him. To really believe that I am living in His presence. To humbly bow at the feet of the Almighty, relinquishing control of every last thing, including my very life, over to Him.

So what are you holding on to? What have you not yet surrendered? Give it to Jesus. Allow Him to take it, and replace it with something infinitely better--His peace. His love. His power.

Give up those fears. Let go of those insecurities. Loosen your grip on your future. Because none of those are yours. They belong to Him. Let Him have them, and see what a true Master can do.

Fear

We all experience it. Every one of us. That awful, awesome, visceral feeling of facing the known or unknown which causes us trepidation and unrest. Sweaty palms. Racing heart. That pit deep in your belly. Despair. Hopelessness. Insufficiency.

You know the feeling.

It affects us, this specter of fear. And specter it is, for it has neither body nor form, can be neither touched nor heard nor sensed in any physical sense but it exists just the same. It is real. As real as is love, as real as is pain. As certain as the cold bite of winter chilling our bones, though we can see neither.

Fear.

It can save your life, or end it. Drive you to seek shelter, or to run blindly into the storm. It can cause the weak to achieve the impossible, and the strong to do nothing. Fear can destroy. Fear can fortify.

Truly awesome is this insubstantial phantom of fear.

Solomon said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," and also, "The fear of the Lord leads to life."   Jesus said, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

That is the kind of fear which can save your life. The kind of fear which can cause the weak to achieve the impossible. Fear can fortify.

Fear can also destroy.

Gideon was so paralyzed by fear that though he was a mighty warrior, he was afraid to act. The entire Israelite nation were so afraid that they refused to enter the good land God had prepared for them, and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.

The stories go on and on. What's amazing is what happens when people truly fear God more than they fear this world. Gideon conquered an army of 135,000 with 300 men. Caleb and Joshua were the only two from an entire generation of Israelites to see the Promised land. Daniel survived a night in a pit of lions. Jonah was saved from certain death.

Do you see the theme here?

Fear of this world gets you nowhere. Fear of God can take you anywhere.

When that feeling of trepidation comes over you, when your heart races and your mind spins, ask yourself, "What am I afraid of?" Is it more dangerous than lions? Is it more mighty than 135,000 trained warriors? Is that thing or person bigger than Almighty God?

No. It's not. Whatever it is, it's not.

Take a deep breath. Remember Daniel. Remember Joseph. Remember Paul, and Moses, and Abraham, and David and . . . remember God.

Fear Him, and Him alone. For if He be with you, who can stand against you?

Attitude Isn't Everything--But It's A Lot

You've probably seen one of those motivational posters, or maybe a post on social media espousing Attitude is EVERYTHING. Well, I disagree. Sort of.

You can have the best attitude in the world and still have the worst day. Conversely, you can have the worst attitude possible and have everything work out. Some days you do your best, and fail. Other days, despite your worst efforts, God smiles on you.

Attitude isn't everything.

But it is important.

Philippians 2:14 says that we are to Do everything without complaining or arguing. That's all about attitude. It means not only doing what we are supposed to do, but doing so willingly and even--Gasp!--cheerfully. We are not only supposed to do good, we are to do good with the right attitude.

Why? Well, the next verse tells us why. So that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the 
universe . . .

Wow. That's a pretty good reason for having the right attitude.

Paul had more words of advise on attitude for the church in Philippi. In Philippians 4:8 he instructs them, Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. 

If that's not about attitude, I don't know what is. He tells them, and God tells us, that we should be thinking about the true, the noble, the right, the pure, the lovely, the admirable--anything that is excellent or praiseworthy. Think about those things. Don't spend your time thinking about what is false, what is ignoble, what is wrong, what is impure, what is unlovely, what is not admirable--don't waste your time on anything that is not excellent or praiseworthy.

I bet if we did that, all the time--only thought about those good and right things and let everything else go--our attitudes would be a whole lot better. I know mine would.

Here's another one. Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not men. And the reason for this one? It's in the next verse as well. Since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. 

We don't live for this world. We don't work for this world. We don't exist for this world alone. How different would our lives be if our attitudes reflected that?

There are so many more. Paul starts Colossians 3 with, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Christ said to love God and love our neighbors as the first and second-most commandments. He also said If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all (Mark 9:35). Now that's an attitude adjustment, at least for me, most of the time!

 In my own personal experience, my attitude reflects the status of my relationship with God. When I'm tight with God, my attitude reflects Him. When I'm not, it doesn't. For me, it really is that simple.

My point is this: Attitude isn't everything--God is everything. But our attitudes are so very important to how we respond to God, how we obey God, how we reflect Jesus Christ to the world. So to that end . . .

Attitude isn't everything, but it is a lot!

Change

I have heard it said that change is the only constant in life, and sometimes that seems oh-so-true. I've also heard it said that change is good, and sure, sometimes that's true as well. But not always. Oh, no sir. Not always.

Let's be blunt. I lost my dad 9 years ago. That change hurt, and it still does. Maybe not as much as it did, but if I could go back and undo it--change the change, if you will--would I? In a heartbeat.

Given the chance, I'd change a lot of change in my life. I'd bring back busload of people who have moved away. I'd reverse a whole slew of decisions that rocked my world, and eliminate a sea of waves that have rocked my boat.

But that chance will never come. I cannot rewind the clock. I cannot make that river of time flow back. No one can.

So what's to be done? Do I live life in constant agony over the changes that have come, and dread the ones yet to be?

No. I can't live like that. There's no peace in such a life, no life in such an existence.

So do I embrace change, no matter what change may bring?

No. I can't. If change could be trusted, were it always docile and benign, then sure. Come what may. But heartless monster that change can be, I may not be able to stop it, but I'll not willingly give it carte blanche in my life.

What is left? What options do I have?

Acceptance? Sure. I guess. I mean, what choice do I have?

But I believe there's a better way yet.

Hope.

Yes, hope.

Not as in wishful thinking, but as in blessed assurance. Hope as in God has a plan for me, a plan for my good, not my harm, a plan for a future and a hope, as God said to Jeremiah. Hope as in being strong and courageous, knowing that God will never leave me nor forsake me, just as He told Joshua. Hope as in those who trust in the Lord will find new strength, they will fly like eagles, they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not be tired, as said by Isaiah.

That's what I mean by hope. Because I know change is coming that's going to hurt. What it will be, I do not not know. But that it will be, of that I am certain. And to face that without hope--honestly, I'd rather die. Truly.

Because I cannot bear the thought of change without hope. Of a world without reason or purpose, which is what I see in change without hope. If every change is simply by chance, if there is no plan, if no one has my back, then I'm done. I'll cash in my chips right now, thank you very much.

But I have hope. I have hope in God who never changes. I have hope in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow. I have hope in the One who works all things out for the good of those who love Him. I have hope, and change can never take that away.

So I face tomorrow, full of changes and a change unto itself, with hope.

That is a better way.

 

When Life Gets Tough, The Tough Go To God

It's true.

All too often we are faced with decisions we don't want to make, don't know how to make, have never made before--seemingly without any direction on what we should decide. Life is full of conundrums, riddles, impossible situations, and times when no answer is a good one.

In short, sometimes life throws a curve ball that seems impossible to hit, or spins us around till we are too dizzy to see straight.

It's true. Life is hard.

You are not alone.

You're not alone in that everyone, at one time or another, feels the same. Some decisions are weightier and have greater ramifications than others, but it is all a matter of perspective. The pressing problem of today may be nothing compared to what I face tomorrow. And that may be nothing compared to the dilemma of my neighbor, my friend, my coworker.

We all, every one of us, enter those halls where every door of decision looks the same, and is as likely to lead us to the precipice of despair as it is to offer deliverance.

You also are not alone in that you do not have to make these choices in isolation. We have friends. We have family. We have the church and pastors, we have spouses and children, we even have professionals of all kinds available to us to provide insight and knowledge.

Yet even those, as great as they are, sadly fall short. All that support, while of some comfort, all too often doesn't provide us what we want, what we so desperately desire.

An answer.

The answer. The right choice. The perfect decision. The one response that would make everything right and good. For all their insight and experience, all of mankind cannot tell us what we should do. We have to make the choice.


In that, it seems, we are very much alone.

But we are not.

Neither father nor mother, sister nor brother, friends, spouses, consultants, advisers, doctors, lawyers, or even pastors or priests can tell us exactly what we should do in these toughest of times. They can help, but they cannot provide that one perfect answer, that one straight and clear path.

Only God can do that.

Oh yes, God knows. And, probably, we all know that. We say it often enough: Only God knows what I should do. We say it, and we might even believe it. But do we act on it? Do we really tap into that one perfect resource who really can answer all questions, make all paths straight, and provide light where there is only darkness?

The reality is, God wants to help. He's waiting to help. He's standing at the door awaiting our call. All we have to do is knock, and He will answer.

Proverbs 3:5-6 reads: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight (NIV).

That's exactly what we're looking for, isn't it? I mean, isn't it! We want someone to show us the way, to give us a path that leads straight to the answer we need. A straight path--no curves, no hills or valleys, no side-trips or rabbit-trails. Just the straight up true and right answer.

That's what I'm looking for when life gets hard.

And God's willing to give it.

All we have to do is . . . 

Trust God instead of ourselves. Trust Him and what He knows, not what we think we know. To trust Him to know the way, and then follow it. Submit. Even when the path He shows us looks completely wrong. Even if the door He points out is warped, misshapen, caked with cracked and peeling paint, and half-hidden by vines and weeds. Trust Him, and lean not on our own understanding.

It's easy to say. It's so hard to do. God's answers--because He is perfect in knowledge and understanding--sometimes just don't make sense to us. What it seems He is telling us all to often is not what we want, what we think we should do. It doesn't seem possible to follow that path, to open that door, and find the right way. It just doesn't make sense.

But it does. Because God is always right. Because God works all things for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Those who love Him, trust Him, and lean not on their own understanding.

We have to have child-like faith. And well we should, for indeed we are His children.

Life's full of tough choices. 

Jobs. Relationships. Parents. Children. Even life and death, mortal and spiritual. Those long passages of life need not be walked alone. Those doors of decision need not be opened without guidance, without a comforting hand upon our shoulder. Truly, we need not even trod a single step in fear or trepidation.

For no decision is tougher, greater, or more fearsome than our Almighty God.

Trust Him, and lean not on your own understanding, and He will make your paths straight.

Amen.