I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
“Oh, we find the Christian life so difficult because we seek for God’s blessing while we live in our own will. We should be glad to live the Christian life according to our own liking. We make our own plans and choose our own work, and then we ask the Lord Jesus to come in and take care that sin shall not conquer us too much, and that we shall not go too far wrong; we ask Him to come in and give us so much of His blessing. But our relationship to Jesus ought to be such that we are entirely at His disposal, and every day come to Him humbly and straightforwardly and say: “Lord, is there anything in me that is not according to Thy will, that has not been ordered by Thee, or that is not entirely given up to Thee?”
Andrew Murray (1828-1917) in Absolute Surrender (Grand Rapids: CCEL) 67.
I was praying about where to shift my reading yesterday, and I felt let to return to the Pauline letters coupled with Christian classics for a time. I hope you appreciate them too.
Today, that leads us to Paul’s first letter, Galatians. Therein he wanted the Galatians to realize what happens to us when we follow Christ. We no longer live but Christ lives in and through us. Soak in that idea for a bit.
This means, according to Murray, that our lives are now lived “entirely at His disposal.” But how often, as Murray states, do we find this life hard because we really just want God to bless our will and plans.
The decision rests with each of us. Will we humbly and straightforwardly surrender everything to God or will we try to follow God along with our own plans and desires?
Think about it. There’s no such thing as partial surrender. We either surrender or we don’t.
But our fear of absolute surrender links to thinking that, if we do it, we will end up empty and destitute. In reality, emptying or dying to self is the only pathway to enrichment and deliverance.
This links to generosity because when those who surrender appear as conduits of blessing rather than containers. Going all the way back to Abraham, God’s design is to bless us to be a blessing.
It requires absolute surrender.