"the freedom of total surrender"
Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Filed in: deep thoughts
a lot of Christians
talk about how we're supposed to try to be loving
with the love of Christ or loving as Christ loves.
it's a great and, i believe, well intentioned
sentiment. in fact, it's one that i've often been
known to endorse. (see my blog entry for
12.20.06
entitled "all you need is
love.")
recently however, i've changed my mind. i'm done
trying.
let's be honest. there is no possible way for us to love the way the Christ does. i mean... He's totally and completely unconditional in His love... He's unbelievably patient, thoroughly selfless, undeniably good, completely joyful, unsettlingly peaceful, overwhelmingly kind and ridiculously patient. He shows mercy and grace to people who don't, for any reason, deserve it and He is the definition of sacrificial love. and, He is all of these things all the time. so, if the call in our lives is to be like that... to love like that... we're screwed from the start. we've been set up for failure. we don't stand a chance. it's a good thing that He doesn't expect that of us.
i know what you're thinking... "um... yes He does! i've read my Bible (or not). i've gone to church (or not). i've heard the stories. that's exactly what He calls us to!" nope. God's not that mean. He's not the God that sets us up for unavoidable failure. i mean, i feel like a God that would do that doesn't fit into the criteria listed in the previous paragraph. so, what are His expectations of us? the only answer that could possibly make any sense is that God expects nothing less than a total surrender of our lives to HIm. oh.... that's all.
we all know that we're not capable of perfect love. we have sin in our nature and the one's who taught us to love did too. the one's we look to for that perfect love in our lives (our parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, kids, best friends, etc...) are imperfect just like us. no wonder we're always let down by love. but God is different.
the Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8). He IS love. that doesn't mean that God is lovING. it doesn't mean that He likes love or tries to show love. it means that He is the embodiment of love. obviously, we aren't God. for us to ever think we could attain God's love is to believe that we could be God and that is (as Jermaine from Flight of the Conchords would say) a preposterous hypothesis.
so, God gave us another way. He gave us Himself. more specifically, He gave us His Spirit. when we accept Jesus as God, the Holy Spirit of God comes to live in us. and since God is love... we suddenly have the embodiment of love living in our soul. so the challenge becomes not to choose to show all of the attributes of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 (as i had previously supposed), but to choose to let God work through us. to set aside our own selfish desires and allow God to do His thing in and through us. to totally surrender our own will to the will of God. only then can the people around us really experience the love of God through us.
with the majority of Christians (including myself) running around trying to act like God and failing miserably, is it any wonder that non-Christians often despise us? (i despise us half the time!) we look ridiculous as we preach one thing and then fall flat on our faces using every ounce of our human weakness to live up to the unreachable standards we've set for ourselves and the world. no wonder we're regarded as morons. it's time to let it go. it's time to stop trying to act like Christ and, instead, put ourselves aside let Christ act through us.
there is great freedom in this recognition of our limitations. now, the pressure that we put on ourselves to be more Christ-like can be lifted. (this is a relief since the effort is really pretty futile.) instead of praying for the strength to be able to love like Christ, pray instead that you would be able to surrender to His will and be filled to the fullness of His Spirit as Paul did in his letter to the Ephesians. then, God (love Himself) will shine through you.
let's be honest. there is no possible way for us to love the way the Christ does. i mean... He's totally and completely unconditional in His love... He's unbelievably patient, thoroughly selfless, undeniably good, completely joyful, unsettlingly peaceful, overwhelmingly kind and ridiculously patient. He shows mercy and grace to people who don't, for any reason, deserve it and He is the definition of sacrificial love. and, He is all of these things all the time. so, if the call in our lives is to be like that... to love like that... we're screwed from the start. we've been set up for failure. we don't stand a chance. it's a good thing that He doesn't expect that of us.
i know what you're thinking... "um... yes He does! i've read my Bible (or not). i've gone to church (or not). i've heard the stories. that's exactly what He calls us to!" nope. God's not that mean. He's not the God that sets us up for unavoidable failure. i mean, i feel like a God that would do that doesn't fit into the criteria listed in the previous paragraph. so, what are His expectations of us? the only answer that could possibly make any sense is that God expects nothing less than a total surrender of our lives to HIm. oh.... that's all.
we all know that we're not capable of perfect love. we have sin in our nature and the one's who taught us to love did too. the one's we look to for that perfect love in our lives (our parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives, kids, best friends, etc...) are imperfect just like us. no wonder we're always let down by love. but God is different.
the Bible says that God is love (1 John 4:8). He IS love. that doesn't mean that God is lovING. it doesn't mean that He likes love or tries to show love. it means that He is the embodiment of love. obviously, we aren't God. for us to ever think we could attain God's love is to believe that we could be God and that is (as Jermaine from Flight of the Conchords would say) a preposterous hypothesis.
so, God gave us another way. He gave us Himself. more specifically, He gave us His Spirit. when we accept Jesus as God, the Holy Spirit of God comes to live in us. and since God is love... we suddenly have the embodiment of love living in our soul. so the challenge becomes not to choose to show all of the attributes of love found in 1 Corinthians 13 (as i had previously supposed), but to choose to let God work through us. to set aside our own selfish desires and allow God to do His thing in and through us. to totally surrender our own will to the will of God. only then can the people around us really experience the love of God through us.
with the majority of Christians (including myself) running around trying to act like God and failing miserably, is it any wonder that non-Christians often despise us? (i despise us half the time!) we look ridiculous as we preach one thing and then fall flat on our faces using every ounce of our human weakness to live up to the unreachable standards we've set for ourselves and the world. no wonder we're regarded as morons. it's time to let it go. it's time to stop trying to act like Christ and, instead, put ourselves aside let Christ act through us.
there is great freedom in this recognition of our limitations. now, the pressure that we put on ourselves to be more Christ-like can be lifted. (this is a relief since the effort is really pretty futile.) instead of praying for the strength to be able to love like Christ, pray instead that you would be able to surrender to His will and be filled to the fullness of His Spirit as Paul did in his letter to the Ephesians. then, God (love Himself) will shine through you.