Surrender

What use is it to worry about your life?  How can anyone expect perfection from such uselessness?  Not that we should have low expectations.  We should, in fact, have the highest expectations from our lives.  But really, how do we expect to be great when we’re really not great?  In the times of greatest trouble, why can we have joy when we’re dying, exhausted?  Is the face of death something to be laughed at?

What about God?  Have we forgotten Him?  What use is a lump of clay sitting in the dirt if there is no one to form it?  But even the most useless material will be made beautiful in the hands of a master.  We have one such master.  Such foolishness it is to say to the Master, “Thank you so much for your trouble in pulling me out of the scrap heap, I really appreciate it, but I think I’ll be going and doing my own thing now.”  Wha-?!?  That doesn’t even make the least bit of sense.

The reason we surrender everything to God is not what we lose, but what we ultimately gain.  We have a potential that is only realized through His will.  We have nothing to lose anyway.  Sin is nothing in comparison to the glory and majesty of our Father God.  But the reward for righteousness is everlasting life.  That is why we give our whole lives, take up our crosses, die to selves.  Let our prayer be like Jesus’ in the garden: “Not my will, but yours, be done.”

“But now, O LORD, you are our Father;
    we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    we are all the work of your hand.” –Isaiah 64:8

Thankful

God has done so much for each and every one of us.  Now, more than ever, I believe this to be true.  When I look back at my life over the last couple years, I see the hand of God at work.  I see all the junk He’s brought me through, the trials He’s allowed me to pass, the tests I’ve failed only to have Him lift me up again.  Here are just a few things I’m thankful for:

I’m thankful for God’s mercy and forgiveness.  Seriously, where would we be without them?  We would all be dead, forever lost, in 100% justifiable torment for our disobedience to the holy God of Heaven.  If Jesus had never come to redeem us, we would be hopeless.  I have no idea what that kind of despair feels like, and I’m thankful that I never will.

I’m thankful for God’s grace, favor and power to overcome evil.  He blesses us, people; He really does.  I thank Him so much that when He saved us, He didn’t just leave us here on Earth to fend for ourselves.  He sent us the Holy Spirit to give us boldness, the Word to teach us the right way to live, and the name of Jesus to defeat every attack of the enemy.  I’m thankful for the way of escape from every temptation and the love to mend broken hearts.

Take some time out of your day to think about what He’s given you.  What are you thankful for?

“Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” –2 Corinthians 9:15