"He that findeth his life shall lose it:
and he that loseth his life for My sake
shall find it" Matthew 10:39
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die,
it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth
forth much fruit" John 12:24.
"We must be willing to get rid of the life
we have planned so as to have the life
that is waiting for us."--Joseph Campbell
God has a wonderful plan for my life! But we
have misunderstood what He is offering! He is
really not offering me an individually
successful life where I am validated and set
apart by the special things He will do
through me. This is human thinking, even
American thinking! No, He invites me to
partake of the eternal life that He is!
For it is not just a "plan" that God wants to
give me, but an inclusion into the very Life
that flows by the Spirit between the Father
and His Son. It is not a call to an "individual"
life, but an invitation to be lost in a
gloriously corporate one: the corporate life
of the one true God! The One opens Himself to
the many that Christ has purchased so that those
"many" may become one in Him!
Will this make us God? Of course not! Will we
lose our individual identity? Only the part
that is not built of His Spirit! And good
riddance to that!
It is easy for me to think of the life I live
as "my life"--one in which I do basically what
I want, running to God in times of trouble, and
proceeding with my own agenda the rest of the
time, but still looking for individual glory.
This life I desperately try to preserve. We live
in a society, even a world, that has no
conception of total surrender to or union with
God. It is easy for me to offer God a little bit
of "my" life, but to hold onto the parts that I
want to keep. But let me tell you, that is not
why we were created! We were created for His
Glory, not ours! For His life, not ours!
We have to be not just talk but action
in letting go of our life so that we might have
the Life that God longs to include us in. We are
looking to differentiate ourselves based on our
accomplishments, God is looking to sweep us up
into Himself, give us His Name, call us His Bride!
As the new year approaches, it is a good time to
take a hard look at our lives. Our we living "our"
lives with a little "Christianity" sprinkled over
the top? Does God have just part of us, or does
He have us deep to the core? Unreservedly?
Without excuse? Without anything held back?
Our we the single seed or the one who has chosen
to fall into the ground and die, waiting for the
life of God to bring forth what He chooses?
As 2007 dawns, we need to ask ourselves if
everything, every ounce of our beings, is
fully the Lord's. If not, we need to get down
on our knees and ask the Lord, "What has
happened to me? What issue or issues has
caused me to hold back from You?"
No doubt He will be quick to show us. Will
we be quick to answer Him? And quicker to
surrender? Our lives can be half-lived,
half-hearted, half-surrendered. They can be
the seed eaten by the birds of selfish
ambition, or tender plants choked by weeds
of jealousy and strife, or our unanswered
calling fallen on the rocks of a
hardened and unforgiving heart.
On the other hand we can have a life overtaken
and lived by the Spirit of Christ within: a
life of peace and sweet fellowship with our
Lord and Maker. This Life we can have if we
but let ours go. If this seems difficult,
weary soul, think of this: once you surrender,
God becomes responsible for you! You no longer
have to carry the heavy burden of decision and
provision. You will become Christ's just as
Christ is God's! Do you think He would abandon
you? Never!
Throw yourself into the ground of total
surrender! A new life that you cannot
imagine awaits you.
Christianity,
God's plan,
union with God,
faith,
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