For God so loved the world that He gave . . . —John 3:16
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
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Journal DJR
Good morning, Lord
Oswald mentions, “as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with something infinitely greater than myself.” Becoming thrilled with surrender or at least the results of surrender may be a good indicator of the totality of my surrender. When I get to that point, Surrender is no longer a burden, but an exciting adventure. It causes me to paraphrase the man who said to Jesus, “Lord, I surrender, Help my un-surrenderedness”
Living excitingly surrendered is a process and getting to the point where you don’t even think about it or analyze it … just live it … that will take some time and some practice and less than perfect attempts. But keep on the trail. I walked it first. And I will walk with you. I am always with you, will never leave you or forsake you. When you feel abandoned and forsaken, just stop and look around. I’ll be right there. You may think I just showed up, but I’ve been there all along. You were just too busy struggling to notice.
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