Words of surrender will mirror the words of Christ. While surrender will sometimes compassionately call people sheep without a shepherd, at other times it will call some a generation of vipers. Often, we will find ourselves speaking kindly to someone we least expected we possibly could. Other times, surrender leads us to speak boldly when we would have previously fallen silent. Sometimes, it will lead us to be a sacrifice...led like the Lamb to the slaughter. Other times, surrender results in driving money-changers from the Temple. In every situation, our dilemma is not to choose which way we believe Christ would respond. Our dilemma is simply choosing to surrender to His will and work. The question is not "What would Jesus do?". The question is, "Am I surrendered to Jesus?". Present tense, continual...not a decision made in a church service, but an ongoing emptying and yielding of ourselves as vessels controlled by Someone much greater. Not a man-made description we are expected to live up to, but an intimate knowledge of Jesus through His Word and His personal work in and through us.
I have come to the conclusion that, if I have done all I possibly know to surrender to Him, that because His Spirit lives in me, my feelings just MAY be what HE is feeling. That HE is disappointed with that person's decision. That HE is upset by that sin. That HE wants more for that church. That HE wants more for my children. That HE wants to befriend the person with whom some of my Christian friends will be uncomfortable. That, perhaps, I am not a "compromiser" to accept and befriend someone outside my familiar evangelical description...that maybe, instead that kind word or outreached hand is Jesus whispering, "Whosoever will, let him come."
I have seen a hopelessness within the body of Christ for several years...across all denominations and in every age group. Declining congregations, children growing into young adults that leave the church, staggering divorce rates, depresssion...the endless list has sent parents and church leadership into a scramble. This drive to cure lethargy and thwart hopelessness has resulted in a plethora of suggested remedies. Some will convince us we must change everything. Others will insist that we change nothing. I am not seeing real hope on either end of that spectrum. My fear is that we have created a portrait of the surrendered Christian life that has convinced our children and church members they must step into that mold to be pleasing to God. The result of this misrepresentation of surrender is hopelessness. Some cannot fit the mold and give up in despair, convinced God accepts everyone besides them. Others have no problem fitting the mold, but ultimately lack the fulfillment in Christ that gets swallowed up in guilt trips, rituals and routines.
The men and women who experienced and shared hope in the past lived lives of total surrender to the Holy Spirit's work in them. They learned to look at their predecessors and pattern their surrender...not to pattern the past, but to surrender to the work of the Ancient of Days in THEIR day. Mary's surrender looked very different from the Apostle Paul's. The surrender of the circuit riding preacher looked very different from the surrender of young pastors who pioneered Christian education in the seventies. The Evangelist Billy Graham's surrender looked very different than the surrender of the godly young father who mines coal for a living, prays for his family, and attends church...but the surrender is no less obedient...no less valuable to God. Different faces, different lives...same surrender. Same Jesus being evidenced in so many different ways.
If we are to ever experience hope and then share it with those around us, it will only be when we surrender ourselves to HIS hope and HIS will, and often to HIS brutal honesty. If our children only ever see the face of Jesus like the one on paper fans at our old tent revivals and never see Him in the surrendered single mom or the tatoo-ed biker at the rest stop, we haven't shown them Jesus. If we believe Jesus would walk into our campmeetings in a flashy suit and shiny cuff links, we have moved past the Man who made Himself of no reputation and took on the form of a servant. If we keep convincing ourselves and our children the results of surrender are dress codes, music genres, and exclusivity, we are surrendering to something besides Jesus. Eventually, the trends will change, the crowd will move on, and they will be left searching for the Jesus we told them would never leave or forsake them. Their only hope...our only hope is a resounding cry of surrender.
"If with courage and joy we pour ourselves out for Him and for others for His sake, it is not possible to lose, in any final sense, anything worth keeping. We will lose ourselves and our selfishness. We will gain everything worth having." - Elisabeth Elliot
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