What I'm listening to: Mercy Me's Undone
I've been trudging slowly though the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murry. It's not very long - 127 pages of a tiny little paper back - but I'm trudging because of the archaic language. (How do people read the KJV? I'll never know.)
The premise is quite simple: the condition of God's full blessing is absolute surrender of all into his hands. While I have no dispute for this premise, I do find myself asking a very childish question as I read: "What are the practical applications for this?"
Well, duh, of course I know all the pad answers. Prayer, read the bible, go to church, love God and each other, etc. etc. Those are the things I was taught in Sunday School as a child. But one can do all the things listed above and still not surrender.
The act of absolute surrender is an act of the will. It's a consious effort to strain against what's in our nature to do, and what's not in our nature to do. We're born with a sinful nature, but also with a sense there is something more. So we must fight against our sin's inclination to separate us from God, all the while embracing what we're meant for - an abundant life with him.
Hmm. It's a wonder this whole "absolute surrender" thing sounds easier than it actually is.
However, I am disturbed by the number of people who sit in pews week after week, having all the knowledge of the cross (and God) they need, and still not make the connection between knowing it and feeling it. It's in that connection I believe we can come to absolute surrender. Knowing is different than understanding, and only through understanding what the work of the cross means for you personally will allow you to feel. And that is when absolute surrender comes. Not out of obligation or guilt, but out of gratitude. A feeling that you can do nothing else but surrender your heart to the God of the universe, because that's all he really wants anyway.
I've been trudging slowly though the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murry. It's not very long - 127 pages of a tiny little paper back - but I'm trudging because of the archaic language. (How do people read the KJV? I'll never know.)
The premise is quite simple: the condition of God's full blessing is absolute surrender of all into his hands. While I have no dispute for this premise, I do find myself asking a very childish question as I read: "What are the practical applications for this?"
Well, duh, of course I know all the pad answers. Prayer, read the bible, go to church, love God and each other, etc. etc. Those are the things I was taught in Sunday School as a child. But one can do all the things listed above and still not surrender.
The act of absolute surrender is an act of the will. It's a consious effort to strain against what's in our nature to do, and what's not in our nature to do. We're born with a sinful nature, but also with a sense there is something more. So we must fight against our sin's inclination to separate us from God, all the while embracing what we're meant for - an abundant life with him.
Hmm. It's a wonder this whole "absolute surrender" thing sounds easier than it actually is.
However, I am disturbed by the number of people who sit in pews week after week, having all the knowledge of the cross (and God) they need, and still not make the connection between knowing it and feeling it. It's in that connection I believe we can come to absolute surrender. Knowing is different than understanding, and only through understanding what the work of the cross means for you personally will allow you to feel. And that is when absolute surrender comes. Not out of obligation or guilt, but out of gratitude. A feeling that you can do nothing else but surrender your heart to the God of the universe, because that's all he really wants anyway.
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