“Behold, the
bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”
-Mary, the
mother of Jesus, in Luke 1:38
Have I mentioned already that I am a
planner? I love calendars, planner apps,
sticky notes, lists, schedules, budgets, spreadsheets, charts, file folders, color
coding, and all things pertaining to detailed organization and careful
forethought. I rate Office Depot right
up with Hobby Lobby, Kohl’s, and quirky little music or book stores. For me, making a plan or decision is a
painfully slow process of thorough analysis and research, and once it is made,
I don’t respond well to unexpected changes or curve balls from any source. It drives my fun-loving and spontaneous husband
crazy.
While planning and organization are
helpful skills, they (like just about anything) can become detrimental if they
are taken too far. Overly rigid schedules
and disproportionate responses to interruptions and inconveniences often betray
an unhealthy desire to be in control.
This inner drive to be in charge makes it incredibly hard to have a
truly willing heart of obedience and surrender when it comes to following
Jesus. Time and time again, I think I have
relinquished control of this life I have been given for complete dependence on
God, and time and time again, He has gently shown me areas to which I am still
holding on with white knuckles. In my
endeavors to gain control, I usurp Jesus’s role as Lord and treat Him instead like
an adviser and a repairman. In essence,
I bow to the idol of self. A life that
revolves around self-fulfillment, self-sufficiency, self-service, self-trust,
self-pity, self-worship, and/or self-absorption is not a life that honors God,
and it is certainly not the abundant life that Jesus offers.
Thankfully, my Lord is also a loving
Father who does not allow His children to get away with mutiny. He disciplines us (Heb. 12:5-11), and He gives
us instruction in His Word for living a rich and purpose-driven life (2 Tim.
3:16, 17). In the Bible, He repeatedly addresses
these issues of idolizing self and taking control by teaching us to instead
humble ourselves and submit to His will.
In Romans 12:1, Paul urges us (in view of all that Christ has done) to offer
our bodies as living and holy sacrifices in a spiritual service of worship. The animals that were sacrificed in the Old Testament
were completely vulnerable, powerless, and without a voice as to their fate. Unlike them, we are exhorted as people who
have a choice to be living
sacrifices. The problem with a living
sacrifice is that it can get off of the altar.
This is the reason why re-dedication is such a common and recurring
practice. We can choose to obey Christ
one moment and then turn around and obey our selfish desires the next. Laying down our lives as living sacrifices
isn’t something that we just do once, but we must lay them down again and again
every time we are presented with the choice to follow self or to follow God. To clarify, I am not speaking here about salvation. A person is saved once for all when he or she believes in Jesus on the basis of His death and resurrection, and this does not need to be repeated. Rather, I am examining discipleship and surrender, which are normal responses to salvation. I could offer a more detailed explanation, but that would take us on quite a long bunny trail from the topic at hand. If you have questions or would like to discuss it more, feel free to contact me!
In Galatians 2:20, Paul tells us how
this life of self-sacrifice is possible by declaring, “I have been crucified
with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved
me and gave Himself up for me.” Later in
the same book, he describes in detail what it means to “live by the Spirit” and
to “walk by the Spirit” (meaning the Holy Spirit). God does not expect us to obey and follow Him
out of our own strength. We would not be
able to do that. Rather, He has led by
His example of being the ultimate sacrifice, and He has given us His Spirit to
empower us to live the lives to which He calls us. Living by the power of the Spirit in
obedience produces “…love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control…” (Gal. 5:22, 23), which sounds
much like the abundant life that we so desperately want and mistakenly try to
attain through self-focused efforts.
Not only has God given us the
instruction and the power to surrender our lives to Him, but He has also
provided us with examples to follow. One
example that immediately comes to mind having recently celebrated the Christmas
season is Mary, the mother of Jesus. As
a young virgin girl who was engaged to a man of integrity, she would have had
many reasons to fear, to try to seize control, and to seek an escape from her very
unexpected calling of bearing the Savior.
People would assume that she had been unfaithful, and she would have to
endure the disbelief, judgment, and disapproval of everyone around her,
including her fiancé. Experiencing
pregnancy for the first time can be unsettling for any mother, and she might
have wondered if she would have to face it alone. The rumors would spread, and she would even
be at risk of being stoned to death according to the law. None of this held Mary back. She didn’t doubt, argue with, or reason with
God, but she believed that the angel’s announcement would come to pass, and she
responded with humble submission and an attitude of worshipful rejoicing in her
God. She chose to willfully and joyfully
be a living sacrifice.
A modern example that God has provided
for me is that of my brother-in-law and his wife (Ben and JaNae). They recently announced their pregnancy (in
one of the most creative ways ever, I might add → Click Here to See Ben & JaNae's Announcement), and their story about
becoming pregnant is so fitting for this post.
JaNae shares it like this: In June, Ben and I decided to go camping for a night and take a kayak and float around for a few hours. He fished, and I read. While reading, this book talked all about how Christians love to say "God's in charge" but don't actually let him be in charge, and how we lack obedience. This sentence smacked me in the face, because the phrase "God's in charge" had come out of my mouth so many times when it came to having kids, and yet we were in total control over it. So we prayed and agreed...we need to give him actual control... so we gave up control and ACTUALLY surrendered it to him with the desire to be obedient! Was I ready? No! I was freaking out! But we know His plans our greater than our own, and his timing is perfect! We are TOTALLY pumped to be having a child! My mind is blown everyday by His creation, and we can't wait to meet our little loved one!!
Ben and JaNae recognized God’s
voice, and they listened. In spite of
their apprehensions, they chose to hand the reigns over in this area of their
lives to the One they knew they could trust. They chose to be obedient, to be surrendered, and to be living
sacrifices. The same Spirit who
strengthened Mary to be obedient by faith is working today in the lives of Ben
and JaNae and in the lives of all who have trusted in Christ. When we let Him, He enables us to say along
with Mary, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according
to your word” (Lk. 1:38).
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