Surrender

Good Morning,

Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

A sacrifice is a costly willingness to present  something offered for any purpose, even death.  This verse speaks also of a living sacrifice, one that is available for whatever the Lord desires to do in our lives. Many times, a sudden death seems easier than a long-term sorrow. 

Surrender to the perfect will of God is rarely what we desire.  We understand that God is wiser, and He views life from an eternal perspective, but we still wrestle with many troubles God places in our lives. 

In the storms of life, in the sorrows we face, in disappointments and heartbreaks we endure, ultimately, we should lay down on the altar and say, “Thy will be done.”  Not that we enjoy or desire the situation, but because we love and trust the Almighty God, even in suffering.  

When you face a situation you did not desire nor, in human eyes, deserve, but find yourself facing trouble and often multiple troubles, you are also faced with the opportunity to present your sacrifice.

As Paul write to the people in Philippi, “According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.”  

Surrender and trust is seen in 2 Corinthians as Paul talks about his outward man suffering; in the next verse, he speaks of “light affliction.” 

2 Corinthians 4:16 “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”

vs. 17 “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;”

That is what makes heroes like Daniel, Joseph, and many others – they surrendered and committed their lives to Christ and to their God.

1 Peter 2:23 “Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:”

Surrender, yield, and trust are all vital to victorious Christian living. 

Pastor