Surrendering our deeds

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men; Colossians 3:17,23

    Imagine if this was always in the back of our heads. "Whatever I'm doing in word or deed, I'm doing it in the name of Jesus unto the Lord." Wouldn't all our activities be different? And just to be clear, whatsoever means whatsoever. Anything you do, any word you say, do it in the name of Jesus. But why do we have to imagine it? It should be a reality. Truly in everything we do, Jesus Christ should be glorified. That is in every activity from putting on your socks in the morning to brushing your teeth before bed. EVERY action can be done to glorify God. I'm not going to explain how here, I'm just stating Scripture. If you think it is a little strange to put your socks on in the name of Jesus, then you really are not grasping this verse. It says "whatsoever you do." I'm repeating myself here, but isn't it exciting?

Surely living this out would lead to a surrendered life, don't you think? But we can see it from a different angle too, if we are doing everything unto the Lord, wouldn't that rule out some activities? When we go to do something and we discover it is impossible to do this in Jesus' name, then we lay that something down. We surrender it to Christ and go and do something that can glorify Him.

Surrendering Attitudes

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. Philippians 2:3

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. John 13:16

    There are many attitudes that we have, pride, complacency, laziness, diligence, courage, despair and many more. But all our attitudes, good or bad as they may be, need to be surrendered to Christ. There is one particular attitude that I believe is the very basis for Christian living. This attitude was taken on and fully displayed in it's purest quality by Jesus Christ Himself Who is the founder of our faith. It is the attitude of servanthood.

    Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory. Our words and actions are not supposed to fashioned to attract glory and honour to ourselves. A servant is humble. His purpose is not to be great, but rather to stand silently waiting to do as he is bid. A servant does not complete his task and say to his lord, "Look how well I have done this." It is expected of him to perform it. He is not obliged to receive thanks or praise, but he is commanded to do his duty. 

In lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves. This is not saying that you must say, "you are better than me at so and so." People by nature and practice are better at different activities. However, we are to think as others and their needs as more important as your own. This is the attitude of Christ. Jesus had nowhere to lay his head, yet he gave his life to minister to others. When his cousin was beheaded, he went away to get some rest, "but when he saw the multitude he had compassion on them and began to teach them many things." He thought of their needs above his own. On the cross Jesus thought about me, he wasn't considering His own comforts and pain. This is the attitude of Christ. I must surrender all my selfish attitudes to become a servant.

The servant is not greater than his lord. Upon taking upon the attitude of servanthood we make every person we meet a master. Not that we worship everyone, Jesus is our Master, but if we are serving one another, then in that moment consider that person your master. Your duty is to serve them. Jesus Himself took on a servants role and washed His disciples' feet. And so must we esteem each other higher than ourselves. Serve them because as Christ we put them in a higher position than ourselves. We get on our knees below them and wash their feet. This is the attitude of servanthood.

Surrendering Surrender

Lord I believe, help my unbelief.
Matthew 9:24

    This is just a thought, and perhaps it is confusing. I was thinking of all the things that I can surrender to Christ -- attitudes, careers, finances, time -- but before I surrender any of that, first I need to surrender my surrender. Let me change the above verse, "Lord I surrender, help my unsurrender." If I think I can surrender my life to God myself, then I am not fully surrendered. I'm taking the credit of my surrender. No, instead let my prayer be, "O God, I need your Grace to surrender. Help me, in your mercy to surrender all to you."

I hope this makes sense. It's a good thought in my head, but when I try to put it to paper it really isn't as good.

Surrender

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Philippians 2:5.

    Often, I believe this verse is quickly read as we haste onto the favourite verses accounting Jesus' great humility. But let us meditate on this first verse. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Think about that.

    I want to put a few posts up over the next few weeks. It will just be a few simple thoughts on surrender. May this be as an introduction. And may I, as I study this concept, become a surrendered individual, one who is in total obedience to the Word of God.

    I want to be a servant of God. What does this mean? Giving up my rights, my desires, my pride, my ambitions and everything that can succeed the word "my." After these have been given up, I am free to serve God in any and every way available to me, for my life will become His and will do His will at every second of every day.

    Why would I want to become such a slave? I have been so created by God that in service I am fully complete, and in selfishness I am completely empty. To have any trace of selfishness brings emptiness, dissatisfaction and unhappiness. In serving the Master and all those around me, although at times uncomfortable, I find true joy. How is this? Well, it is simple. I am made in the image of God. God became a servant to man. In God is found the source of joy, happiness, love, satisfaction, success, fulfilment and hope. In becoming a servant I become like Christ and therefore become full of all these wonderful blessings.

Pray for one another.

Deuteronomy 32:30

How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?

    Notice the multiplication here. Logical math would tell you that if one takes on one thousand, then two takes on two thousand. But in this versd two takes on ten thousand. This is why we need prayer backup. This is why we need to be part of a body of believers. This is why we need to form friendships with Godly people who will pray with us and fight with us.

Put in the effort!

   A man was talking to a great musician saying, "I wish I could play like you!"

"No you don't," he replied.

Somewhat shocked by this, the man said, "I do! I really wish I could play like you do."

The musician said again, "You do not, sir. To play as well as me you need to practice for five hours everyday for over a decade."

Often I wish, I was this holy, this pure, this good and I knew God this well. Then, I need to put in the effort and seek God everyday. There is no point wishing. There is point working.

Make Him smile.

There is a married couple. The husband absolutely adores his wife. He does everything within his power to make her comfortable and happy. He consistently tires himself for her benefit. The wife, however, does not reciprocate this. She does nothing for him and rarely thanks him because she takes everything for granted. Yet, in spite of this, the husband continues to try and please her; he works hard in the hope that she may glance a smile at him. Onlookers wonder how long he will keep it up, but he has already married her for more than fifty years.

    You might say that is a very hypothetical story, but actually, it's true. The husband is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ; the wife is his church. Jesus has continually loved us. He has saved us and died for us. He provides for us, makes promises to us, protects us, helps us and much more besides. He has faithfully done this for years. His church, however, for the most part does her own thing, forgets to thank Him, takes all her benefits for granted and rarely spends time with Him.

    Now suppose the wife begins to smile at her husband and greets him and begins to do little somethings for him. Would not his heart be filled with joy? Do you not suppose he would rejoice and would hardly sleep for happiness?

    Church, you are the bride. Seek to fill your husband with joy. You can look at the Bible as a boring list of rules and regulations if you want. But why not look at it as a book containing hints as to what your husband likes and would be overjoyed to see in His beloved bride. As His wife, surely you should desire to make His heart glad, and will long to read His Word to find "little somethings" you can do for Him.

Time to clean up.

   I remember my dad going through the entire house and burning or throwing out any thing that was not pleasing to God. He burnt up books, ripped up DVDs, threw out tapes and such like. That is called sincerity. No one can pick and choose what you decide to dump of your own things. That is between you and God. Some may go as far as David Brainerd, others maybe not so. But the point is to gather up all of your possessions and go through them on your knees before God. One who does that is truly sincere about serving His God. One who does that makes God his God.

My desire

   I have a strong desire. I long to see it fulfilled in myself and in every Christian I meet. I long for a sincere heart that would give up everything and every ambition for Him. A heart that would gladly lose everything just to have fellowship with Him. A heart that is constantly praying earnestly to the Father. A heart that devotes its self to God. I know I fail many times a day, and I mean that, but at least  (and I do not intent to esteem myself better than any other person by saying this) I do have a heart that longs to be totally, sincerely true and pure. I want to see that heart in every person. I do see in many a heart that is wishy washy. A body that goes to church on a Sunday but does not change. As for me, I yearn to be a living and growing Christian. I yearn to hate darkness and love light. I don't want to be a lazy, unhealthy, uncaring Christian. I want to be like Jesus.

Tell me the story often!

    If you were to look at the former posts, you will get the idea I am trying to draw the reader back to the amazing love of Jesus as he took my place on that cross. I just want to say it again. He died for me,   of all people, me. I wish I could express myself properly. But I am glad I can't, because if I were able to fully comprehend and describe His love than it would not be infinite.
   Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. He did it all. Repeat! Emphasis! Stand up on your chair if you have to just to emphasize this incredible wow!