day 40- the vision to transform my heart (pt. 2)

God knows every person’s heart. He knows how we deceive ourselves. He sees us as we are and is ready and able to transform us. This is the only way we can be saved from ourselves. God calls us to a life of surrender, abandonment, contentment, and participation.

We “surrender” to God and place our complete confidence in him. If we try to hold anything back, renovation isn’t possible. It’s not that God couldn’t change us on his own, but for the sake of our precious freedom he wouldn’t. It’s time for us to surrender.

“Surrender” is not a term that denotes strength, obviously. Yet, in the case of dying to yourself and your own self-worship into a life of self-denial, the one who surrenders is a giant. For years AA has used a slogan, “Let go; let God.” It is just as meaningful today.

Holding on to the “me” that isn’t really the “me” God designed me to be, well, that’s just plain foolish. (I’m sorry, but whenever I see the word “surrender” I see the Wicked Witch skywriting, “Surrender, Dorothy!”) In the case of transformation, surrendering enhances who you are.

We trust God enough to give up, and now we are ready to go all the way. “Abandonment” means everything. Every part of who we are. We do this in fits and starts, but the more we give God from what holds us back, the more freeing this becomes.

We will then experience “contentment,” where we are satisfied with what we have and live lives knowing we are completely safe, immersed in God’s Kingdom reality. It doesn’t surprise us nor upset us when we don’t get our own way. We know God will carry out his plans. Our destinies are interwoven with those plans.

When we die to ourselves and live for God and others, God can trust us with his power. More and more he will use us to be beacons of hope and assurance in a world in desperate need of this. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have this power beforehand; it’s just that without transformed hearts, power without humility is dangerous. By transforming us, God invites us into this life of “participation.”

Why is spiritual “surrender” so powerful? How might it be misunderstood?