Control

Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant and cut off his right ear.  (The servant's name was Malchus.)  So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

--John 18:10-11

A lot of times in my life, I've thought, "Let me help you out God.  Let me do this."  ....like God really needs my help.  I, a human being, with finite knowledge and wisdom, so often think that I know what is best, when, in all actuality, only God knows.  I only know what I have gone through and what I am presently going through.  There is no way that I am able to truly figure out what is best for me and for the Kingdom.  My thinking would have been exactly like Peter's, just thinking of the immediate circumstances.  But God was thinking of eternity; if Jesus didn't die, then people would never be able to experience intimate fellowship with Him.  Similarly, in our lives, we only see the immediate, surrounding circumstances and desire to be brought out of them, when in reality, God may be doing great things in our hearts and in the kingdom through us, if only we'd relinquish control and willingly drink the cup that God has given to us.

Glorify

John 17:15--My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect him from the evil one.

Whenever I face difficulties, my prayer is almost always that God would take me home so that I wouldn't have to continue to face the struggle. What a selfish request that is! Why should my temporal sufferings be more important than the potential impending eternal suffering of people around me? I must endure here on earth so that more can know Jesus. Afterall, that is the reason I am here on earth, not to feel good, but to glorify God.

Surrender

"...the gift of grace involves the gift of a new heart.  New desires.  New longings.  For the first time, we want God.  We see our need for him, and we love him.  We seek after him, and we find him, and we discover that he is indeed the great reward of our salvation.  We realize that we are saved not just to be forgiven of our sins or to be assured of our eternity in heaven, but we are saved to know God.  So we yearn for him.  We want him so much that we abandon everything else to experience him.  This is the only proper response to the revelation of God in the gospel."  --David Platt (Radical, p. 39)

In his book, Radical, David Platt challenges Christians to extricate our faith from the American Dream.  As I read through the second chapter today, I couldn't help but think about how I've been settling for mediocrity and this life over radical faith and abandonment for the gospel; I've become too comfortable.  As I noticed more recently, my dreams and hopes have become more about what I want rather than what is best for the Kingdom.  In short, I need to surrender.

As I think further about surrender, I can't help but think that if I truly desired to live fully for God's Kingdom, why wouldn't I pursue vocational ministry?  Why wouldn't I pour all my time and efforts into reaching the lost every second of the day?  And yet, I know that God needs people in all sectors of society, as businessmen and women, as teachers, as doctors, as lawyers.  To surrender means to yield my thoughts and dreams, even my ideas of what would be best for the Kingdom and instead, to trust in God's wisdom.  I might think that my best contribution to furthering God's Kingdom is by pursuing full-time vocational ministry, but God, in His infinite wisdom, has called me (I think) to be a missionary in my workplace as a teacher, at least for the time being.  Surrender means being ready to go wherever God is calling me to do whatever God is calling me, whenever God is calling me.  It is saying, "Here am I, send me."

Questions for myself:  Am I fully surrendered to God?  How can I do more?  How can I give more?