A Total Surrender

I don't know if you are like me, but I really don't like being denied. If there is somewhere I want to go or something I want to have, I don't like to hear the word, NO! Guys, if you can think back to the first time you asked a girl out on a date, the fear of being denied was there (I am thankful I never herd no...hope you believe that).

We are now in day two in the Lent Season. We are encouraging you to give up something until Easter Sunday to remind yourself of the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. If you have already messed up, don't give up! Get back on track and do the best that you can. This is a very tangible thing to do, a way to help us in our journey with Christ. Today, I want you to think about your life as a whole. If you have decided to follow Christ or when you do, there comes a moment when you say my life is no longer my own. There comes a point when you surrender your plans, your future, your past, your life! Oswald Chambers wrote this in "The Place of Help" in 1935:

'Submission does not mean that I submit to the power of God because I must. A stoic submits without passion, that is slavery; a saint sees God's will and submits to it with a passionate love, and in his daily life exhibits his love to God to Whom he has submitted.'

Jesus said in Luke 9:

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himselfand take up his cross daily and follow me.For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.What profit is there for one to gain the whole worldyet lose or forfeit himself?"

So today, be reminded that your surrender to God is not just denying yourself certain things, but a surrender with passionate love to the one who gave it all. That following Christ isn't just about making sure you don't do certain things and you do certain things. That denying yourself is a daily thing and is sometimes even hard. But after you experience the life he gives when you give it all away, you understand that it is good. May your life reflect the one who gave himself completely for you.