A Surrendered Heart (How can we be led by God Pt. 2)
Our bodies only function rightly when our brain is working as it should and is in charge, in the same way we as the body of Christ can only be healthy and fully supplied when we are connected to Christ as the head of the body. Ephesians 4:11-16 in the NIV spells out the connection and the desired result beautifully.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
When cells rebel, it is called cancer and it can destroy one’s body from the inside out. When organs stop functioning properly due to age or disease, we cannot ignore them but must take notice. Yet too often in our spiritual lives we fall back into trying to serve two masters - usually our flesh, while we still think we are “living for Jesus”. This form of rebellion when we start living for self and put ourselves back on the throne of our lives leads to spiritual sickness that affects not only our lives but the lives of everyone around us, too. This is not the surrendered life. This is us being deceived by pride or another sin that we’ve come to love more than Jesus. It can happen subtly as we drift away by those winds of enticement —perhaps because we are striving to find security through trying to control everything and everyone— or perhaps because we are running from our pain to that thing —whatever it is that provides escape. But these choices (and habits) lead to death and not the life Jesus came to give us. (Just see James 1:13-16 for a run-down of how destructive this cycle is.)
When we fail to surrender to Christ’s Lordship over us, we crimp the hose of spiritual life that He paid so much to impart to us. We grieve His Holy Spirit, and we miss out on the compassionate love and fellowship that Jesus longs for us to have in Him. Philippians 2 teaches us about true surrender.
If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion…. (Philippians 2:1 NASB1995)
Let’s stop there a second. Any of us who have become Christians did so because of a work of God’s Spirit in our hearts drawing us to put our faith in Jesus Christ for forgiveness of sins and new life. We all at one point or another then have been encouraged deeply by Jesus’ choice of us. By His seeing us and wanting us to be His. By His pursuit of us and by the preaching of the Word which pricked our hearts and caused us to kneel in surrender—caused us to call Him Savior and Lord. We have been recipients of His love and still are! We have experienced the fellowship of the Holy Spirit and have been touched by the affection and compassion of God. Please remember the relief and the release that came when you first trusted in Jesus Christ to save you.
Now, please evaluate where you are with Him today (and yesterday, and last week and just lately in general). Are you worshiping Him and giving Him the rightful place of Kingship on the throne of your life, or is your will ruling you again?
That Philippians passage goes on to tell us to maintain the same mind and love and unity, intent on one purpose. It tells us to turn away from selfishness and regard others as more important than ourselves. It calls us to have the same surrendered attitude that Jesus had, stepping down from heaven, emptying Himself to become a bond slave, humbling Himself to the point of obediently dying on the cross to fulfil His Father’s plan to redeem all of us.
This is all in sharp contrast to what I was reading in Daniel chapter four recently. That passage is about a very different man, one who was not God, but thought he was. The passage reminded me of the extreme danger of pride. Nebuchadnezzar was given a dream from God warning him of where his habitual pride problem was about to get him. The dream was of a great tree, visible to the whole earth, beautiful and abundantly fruitful ordered by an angelic watcher to be chopped down and stripped of its branches. God showed Daniel that the great tree was King Nebuchadnezzar, who was about to be severely humbled by Him. Daniel explained to the king that he would be like a beast driven away from mankind and would live like an animal until he recognized that the “Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes.” Daniel went on to tell him that he needed to “break away now from [his] sins by doing righteousness, and from [his] iniquity by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of [his] prosperity.” The next scene we see the king 12 months later on his royal roof declaring, “Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built …by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?” And immediately sovereignty was removed from him. His mind left him and his fingernails grew like claws, and his hair like eagle feathers. YIKES!
Jesus sees our hearts. He hears our words. He knows our thoughts. He sees our effects on others. His words to the church at Laodicea and to Ephesus can help us humble ourselves and return to our rightful posture of bowing before Him.
To the angel of the church of Laodicea write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
(Revelation 3:14-20)
To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Rev. 2:1-7)
How much we need to hear these words and let them humble us from all our self-sufficiency. We are not to try to make our own righteousness. We are not to keep striving. We are not to love our good works more than our Lord Jesus Christ! Only He satisfies. Only His presence fills our hearts with joy and peace and purpose. Have you left your first love for anything else? Return to Him. Have you heard His rebuke and repented, because those He loves He disciplines. He is knocking. Let us not keep Him waiting outside the door anymore while we play with our sin. Let His cleansing begin and His gentleness be near.
It is when we live the surrendered Christian life that we are truly free and full of the light and life He sacrificed so much to give. It is only when we are surrendered that we can truly be a doer of the Word and not merely a hearer as James proclaims in chapter 1 verses 21-27. He says in verse 25, “But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.”
Dear Heavenly Father, soften our hard hearts. Turn us from every form of rebellion and spiritual cancer of self, self, self, back to our first love. May Jesus reign and rule in our hearts. May Your Holy Spirit have His way fully in our lives. May you be glorified and exalted as we bow before Your throne, humbled and grateful for your mercy and grace. May our surrendered hearts be led by You and You alone. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
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Photo of Davinci man scroll page WikiImages - Pixabay
Man on knees Photo by Ben Whiteon Unsplash
Surrendered Woman Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash
