Have you discovered surrender?  In thinking more in the wake of our conversation yesterday I have been pondering the idea of what it means to place life, resources, time, self into the faithful and loving hands of Jesus.  It’s a question I’ve wrestled with in both thought and action over the years.  It seems every time I move to surrender (this seems to be a recurring activity in my life, which is fodder for a whole other conversation) I discover tension in keeping my life and will and all that other stuff firmly “surrendered” to God.  Why is that?  Have you ever experienced that ebb and flow? Why do I/we struggle with surrender, surrendering or staying surrendered?

If you’re like me we don’t like to give things over without the promise of a worthy return.  As we talked yesterday about the temple rich and powerful and the widow, “religion” has a way of becoming a transactionary give and take.  Somehow we believe we can barter eternal life, blessing, affluence, power, fill in the blank, with God.  Offering what we perceive He wants in return for His diving goods.  Surrender though was never meant to be a bargaining tool but instead a relational and experiential response.  So back to the question at hand, have you discovered surrender?  If you struggle like I do with this activity maybe it’s because we need a change of scenery.

I was in Seattle recently for the first time and had heard many say how beautiful a place the northwest is to visit.  We landed and began our journey away from the airport and I was waiting in expectation most of all for the beautiful Mt. Rainier that I witnessed on the flight into SEATAC airport.  To be honest, I was a little disappointed as the terrain of the Seattle airport seemed to be creating a problem in seeing this beautiful mountain from the ground.  But as we drove along we turned around another curving bend in the highway and there it was;  it was like a curtain was let down as the majestic and momentous mountain came into view.  Where one moment earlier I was disappointed, the next I could finally see.  The scenery changed and the mountain came into view!  What a cool moment that I will never forget.

What if we need this sort of change of view in life.  What if our idea of surrender needs to come around the bend so we can really see what it’s all about and what it means for our lives?  What if we stopped looking for divine goods and instead look, really looked for the eyes of Jesus?  I think in seeing Him, surrender would all the sudden, in a glorious moment, change from activity to a mysterious response to the Son of God, Savior, Messiah and lover of our souls.

Have you discovered surrender?  I guess maybe a better question for us all to think on today is, have you discovered Jesus?

When we can live in the reality of the answer to that question, then everything changes!