Surrender Today
Sometimes it is easier to surrender the future than the day! Saying we will go anywhere and do anything for God can be something we are “fully willing to do,” but taking care of today’s responsibilities for God may not be as “easy.”
In Acts 10, Peter faced this challenge. On multiple occasions, he dedicated himself completely to following Jesus. No one can deny his life of surrender. Yet, one day in Joppa, while praying on a quiet rooftop, Peter didn’t find surrender so easy.
God gave him a vision of animals that for him as a Jew were unclean. In the vision, three times God told Peter to “kill and eat.” And three times, Peter said, “Not so Lord, for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.”
In the vision, Peter flat-out refused to obey the voice of God. This shows that despite surrendering his whole life, there were still some areas of no surrender in his life.
Thankfully, when the moment of decision came, Peter said yes. This vision revealed areas of inner resistance in Peter’s life and prepared him to yield those to God.
For my Christian brothers and sisters, who have made big decisions of surrender to God, I commend you. But I also warn you that these are not the only times you will need to surrender. Surrender or “dying to self” is something that is more of a daily thing than a yearly or a once-in-a-lifetime decision.
Regarding the difficulties of serving God, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.” In 2 Corinthians 4, he said,
“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which life are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be mae manifest in our mortal flesh.”
So, the challenge we have today, no matter what decisions have been made in the past, is to surrender today! Die today! Give up what you want to do today and yield to what Christ has for you. It could be as simple as another language school class, another round of sharing the gospel, writing another sermon, giving another offering, giving thanks for whatever situation in which you find yourself (1 Thess. 5:18), or simply serving your family in some way.
I appreciate the thoughts here!