Submit or Surrender?

James 4:1-10

 

No matter how you say it, if you submit or surrender to someone, it sounds like you’ve lost.

 

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you?   James 4:1 NIV

 

My first year of marriage was very difficult. It was a battleground of wills over the smallest decisions. Do you fold your towel in thirds or half? Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube in the middle or the end? Do you roll your toilet paper over or under? The battles seemed endless.

 

Each decision was a contest with the winner maintaining their position of power and control, while the loser took another step towards losing their personal identity. (In case you’re wondering, we will celebrate our 42^nd anniversary this week.)

 

The fact is that we all struggle with submission and surrender. It’s in our nature. Adam and Eve failed to submit to God’s will and it’s been like that ever since. Really it’s a matter of pride, and the symptoms are often visible through our attempt to control our world. Here’s an example.

 

Someone with an addiction, like drugs or alcohol, will use in order to feel better. In other words, it is their way of trying to control their world.  It’s the addict saying to God and to anyone else, “I can handle this myself thank you very much”.

 

That’s pride, and if we are honest with ourselves, our pride keeps us from submitting or surrendering to God just like the addict. In fact, you could say that we are addicted to sin.

 

God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you.            James 4:6-8 NIV

 

Going into my marriage, I had the best of intentions to be a good husband and to have a wonderful marriage. But my pride and my sinful nature were working against my best desires. Nobody wants to submit or surrender.

 

It takes work to draw near to God. It takes an intentional effort. It doesn’t just happen. However, God’s word promises that if you draw near to Him, then He will draw near to you.

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you, or touched your heart through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

 

The god of Our Own Creation

Revelation 1:12-20

 

 

In Columbus, Ohio, and throughout the Buckeye nation, if you are an Ohio State football player, you are idolized; and on Saturdays, you are worshiped. When the Shoe is filled with over 106,000 rabid fans; when TBDBITL forms Script Ohio; when the Buckeyes score their first touchdown; the god of football is in its throne.

 

As humans, we tend to put many things ahead of God in our life; we tend to make idols; to make a god of our own creation. People have made idols since the beginning of time. Isaiah wrote this about carpenters who made idols:

 

¹⁶ Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” ¹⁷ From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my god!”         Isaiah 44:16-17 NIV

 

We may not make our idols out of wood or stone or gold or silver; but don’t ever doubt

that we still make idols. It could be football, work, family, church or addictions like drugs, alcohol, gambling and sex. The potential list is endless. The difference between these idols, or gods, and Jesus is that He is the Living One.

 

“Only God can do the impossible and bring life from nonlife. Just as He breathed human life into the dust of the ground in Genesis, so also He conceived life in a virgin’s womb”. (From Today in the Word devotional.)

 

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. ¹⁸ I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.            Revelation 1:17-18 NIV

 

What god of our own creation can do this? Only Jesus, the Living One, can reach out and touch our heart to draw us to him; to mold and shape us; to lead and guide us; to give us strength to face our daily challenges. Only Jesus can. Therefore, “Do not be afraid”.