1 Peter 2:11-12
Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
My mother told us recently about visiting a “ghost-town-turned-tourist-trap” in Arizona, where they observed an interesting exchange between a man and a horse. It seems the man was trying to lead the horse across a roadway – and away from other horses – toward what appeared to be a large trough of water. (Interject “you can lead a horse to water…” joke here!)
The horse apparently did NOT want to go, and he reared up at the man and retreated to the point of origin and took his place with the other horses. The man tried again (remember our definition of insanity?!) and got the same results. Clearly the horse did not want to surrender to the man. This animal could not understand that the man’s intention (purpose) was a good one. His plans were to provide the horse with necessary nurture and care, i.e. water!
Aren’t we just like the horse? God is trying to give us so much, but for whatever reason… fear, selfishness, ego, stubbornness, sin, and more… we rear up, stomp and pitch a fit, dig in our heels and refuse to budge. We retreat to what we know… what is comfortable… even if it’s all wrong for us. We think we know better than God what is right for us… what we need… what will make the most sense in our lives.
In The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says “Surrender doesn’t weaken you, it strengthens you.” The Bible gives us tremendous examples of people who surrendered to God when it didn’t make a lick of sense… Noah, Moses, Queen Esther… even Jesus Christ. Surrender to God does not equal an admission of defeat… it reflects maturity in our faith and a true desire to live fully in the grace and mercy of our Heavenly Father.
We are like the stubborn horse who foregoes life-sustaining water in favor of a comfortable stance on the sidelines. When we fail to surrender to God, we fail to enjoy a complete relationship with Him – and all that He wants to give us. Where are you standing today? Will you “cross the road” and surrender completely to God and start living in His grace, mercy, love… and abundance? Or are you kicking up your feet and taking a stand… stuck in the same old rut? Are you ready to let God take the reins and lead you to “the good stuff”? Are you ready to surrender completely?
©2011 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment