Written by His
Grace,
Kevin K. O’Connor
Main Thought: To
examine the Joys of surrendering all of our hearts
The Joys of Surrender
Have you ever given of yourself to a place of complete
surrender and felt the joy of that experience? It seems that infants seem to
find that place when they’re in their Mother’s arms. They just seem to drift
off into a place of total rest and contentment. I think that when we look upon
their faces while they’re in this place of total contentment we too ache to be
there especially as adults having gone through so many aches and pains.
Sometimes I think that we can only experience that place of surrender only by
gazing into the faces of our little infants as they rest in our arms. But,
there is a place I believe we can live that is continuously in a state of
contentment just as a child at rest within his/her Mother’s arms. There is joy
in surrender that only those who have experienced it know. It seems as we
mature from infants and become more self-aware, so does our desire to become
more independent. And of course, that is important, but what is sad is that we
tend to lose touch with the joy of total surrender. I believe we were made to
live in a state of surrender/abandonment and so as adults we look for those things
that will take us there.
We’ll try finding this place of total abandonment by the
giving of ourselves to others either sexually or to things like idolatry. It
seems that we were wired to give of ourselves and we’ll do anything to get
there even if it may be wrong and cause us harm. I think the only other thing
next to surrender to Christ that seems to help with this void is when we
surrender ourselves to our spouses. We experience the joy of not only
surrendering ourselves to them, but also the joys of having someone else
surrender themselves to us. Many people have found though that this covenant of
matrimony is only as strong as those making it. The result has been many lives
have had their hearts smashed and torn apart by the agonies of divorce. But as
hard as some may try to fill this void through their spouse, it just is not
enough. Thank our God though for One Who sticks closer than even a brother;
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks
closer than a brother. (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
That One is Christ Who proved
Himself worthy of our surrender and abandonment to Him.
I’ve been there in this life and know the heart wrenching
pain of divorce and understand the heart’s reluctance to open itself again to
another person once you’ve been ripped. It’s through listening that we learn
and if we but look intently into Who Christ is and what He has done we will
grow to Trust in this One Who laid it all on the line for us. He didn’t give up
or give in when the going got rough but went all the
way to the cross and bore our penalties of sin and satisfied the Father’s wrath
to the sin we have all given in to. The more we listen to Who He is, the more
we learn that we can trust Him. The more that we trust Him, the more we can
learn to surrender our will to His. The more of our will we surrender to His,
the more Joy will flood our lives. It’s amazing how much the physical lives we
lead are like images of the spiritual life to come. Those who have grown to the
point in their life where they’ve come to love someone to entrust all their
hearts to them know the joy of surrender. But, there is someone who will never
leave us nor forsake us and enable us to keep the vows we make to each other. Hebrews 13:4-5 4 Marriage
is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but
whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. 5 Let
your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as
ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
God knows that everything our eyes can see and our hands can
touch are but a moment and are not life. Even our marriage partners that we’ve
committed our lives to and so tells us not to covet those things that are not
ours but to learn how to be grateful for where we’re at and what we have. Matthew 10:36-38 36a
man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'[1] 37"Anyone who loves his father or
mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me; 38and anyone who does not take his
cross and follow me is not worthy of me. For Christ, who is all we
truly need, will never leave us or forsake us. The
more we learn how to delight our lives in the One from Whom
we exist and to Whom we will return, the more joy our hearts will reap.
Our life here below is kind of like looking into a lake at an
image. The image is not the actual thing that we’re seeing but just an image of
it. So the many things of this life that we presently see are merely a
reflection of where we’re going but pales in comparison to what it is actually
going to be like. Our hearts now ache to be united with another person but even
that ache is derived from the ache of our hearts to be united with the One from
which we exist. We may feel pain when others hurt due to the compassion of the One
from which we exist and to Whom we will return. We may
find joy and fulfillment in labor and looking at the fruit of our labors like
our Loving Heavenly Father who created all things. Too many times though we
don’t take the time to realize that we were created for Him and so our hearts
get all wrap up with concern and worry about the things of this life that are
here and gone. The one we committed our lives to may have wanted out, the
possessions we had may have been lost or even our own health lost – they all
belong to Him.
May He ever teach us how to delight in Him, not only when our
relationships are good, or are possessions are full, or when our health is
great, but all the time! For the one who has learned to lose himself/herself in
the beauty of God in the hard times is joyous indeed.
Yet, O LORD , you are our Father. We are the clay, you
are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
If we can imagine clay in a Potter’s hands; can you imagine
the joy of the potter to work with clay that’s very supple and easy to mold?
Now imagine us as that clay and the joy our lives would be filled with by being
supple and yielded to His leading and direction. After living with myself for
46 years now, I see things in me that may be considered weaknesses by others
but that’s ok – now. For I’m beginning to learn how to accept me just as He
created me, a very intense, focused (tunnel vision) individual. And I also
realize that every strength to extreme can become a weakness and so am
continuously learning how to grow into maturity with Christ. May our hearts
never grow dull to the joy of learning how to grow and be stretched.
I think that is one of the things I like most about my job because I’m
continually being challenged with things I’ve never seen before. His Word is
like that to our hearts for
states
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than
any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints
and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
Instead of resisting change, our hearts should learn to
embrace it for we’re all in transition if we’re learning to yield to Him.
It seems that only those things that are living are capable
of being hurt. And so, the more life there is in a given area, the more amount
of pain can be had at that point. Some people let every little look and word
others speak negatively affect them. They have much concern about what others
think of them. Let’s look at Christ and see what affected Him; If people do not welcome you, shake the dust off your feet
when you leave their town, as a testimony against them." (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
and yet when the Father merely had to look away from Christ
the moment He became sin for us it practically ripped His heart out thus He
cried out;
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi,[ 27:46
Some manuscripts Eli, Eli] lama abachthani?"–which
means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"[
27:46 Psalm 22:1] (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
I think that we need to learn how to die more and more to
those things of this life that are meaningless in eternity and draw closer and
closer to the One from which all things exist. We need to learn how to be tough
and resistant to those things that are meaningless to Christ and extremely
sensitive to His heart and desire for us. That only comes through submission.
What develops this submission in our hearts to Him? Prayer and fasting;
He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.[ 9:29 Some manuscripts
prayer and fasting] " (Whole Chapter: In
context: )
Intimacy with our spouses builds closeness with them and the
same goes with spending time with Him. Do we want our hearts to be fuller of
Joy? Then I believe we need to learn how to be more submitted to the Master
Potter Who is in the process of making something beautiful out of our lives. Do
we want to be more submitted to Him? Than we need to learn how to spend more
time with Him.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your Beautiful Loving Pure
Love that You have for each of us. Teach us how to
spend time with You that You may ever transform us
into the image of Your Son – the express image of Your heart! In Jesus Glorious
Name, Thank you.
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