“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” -Rom 12:1
The following is the latter half of a story. The first half I leave to your imagination, which is rather lazy of me, don’t you think?
And the moral of our story is: to unconditionally surrender to God is a good, painful, necessary process—emphasis “process”—that leads to rest for the soul. Theological puffery? You be the judge. All I know is that every time I make the final surrender of some latest idol or selfish failing, I am instantly back where I belong, resting peacefully in God. From there, I always see the beneficial change within and wonder what took me so long. And—dare I proclaim it—that emboldens me to look forward to what I get to surrender the next time.
“Well, you’re just a dim protagonist and a glutton for punishment,” some will say. “Never allow a crucifixion to be from men. Allow it only to be from God,” sage author Eugene Peterson says.
“Whatever it takes, Lord,” say I. The end.
I hope this encourages you to surrender to God today.
Kevin Murray
© 1/4/17 All rights reserved
-If you have enjoyed this blog, stay tuned for our new book, Encourage to Faith. Available through Amazon soon!
When I open my email and find your beautiful thoughts and verses to liven my day; I totally know God sent this message to me today. I will read, think and pray about your message today because there is always something there to encourage me to be a better servant. Thank you for sharing with us all! Deborah
Thanks for the encouraging words, Kevin! I’m looking forward to reading your upcoming book.
Kevin, we have to keep in mind, most surrenders are “World or Earth” treasures that don’t
generate “Heavenly” treasure. BUT!!! the surrender does!