Who am I? Where do I belong? Who is God? Is life going to
work out for me? These are a few of the numerous questions that every believer has asked
themselves at least once in their lives. There are two areas of life that people deal
with on a daily basis. On one hand there is our spiritual life, where our dependence on
God is key, and on the other hand there is secular life, where we are taught that we can
only depend on ourselves.
In our secular lives we have the concerns of employment,
health, relationships, bills, etc. Society looks with arrogance and glib at the selfless,
faith driven person. People who live for Christ are seen by most of society as being either
oppressive or having a pointless, out-of-date, romantic, notion of life. Society loves
the self made, self reliant person. Society is eager to reward greed, ignorance, and
pride. Many people forget the afterlife and strive for heaven on earth. There is a strong
worship of creation while rejection of the creator.
Our spiritual lives focus on faith. Faith gives us hope for
the future. Faith takes us out of the inward focused self and causes us to realize that
there is more to life than what can be seen on the surface. The problem with living a life
driven by faith is that we live in a secular society, where faith doesn't seem to have
realistic answers to all the problems that we encounter in our lives. With the demands of
secular living and obligations to God, working in our lives it often feels as if we have
to make a choice of what or who we are going to follow. Tupac Shakur, a famous and at
times infamous rapper once said in an interview that he knew what good morals are, but it's
hard to live like an angel when you are surrounded by a bunch of devils.
If we are believers then we will accept the battle that we are
in and choose Christ. Many Christians put on an appearance of confidence and trust, but
below the surface, questions still linger concerning our well being as well as the well
being of those who depend on us. We are left to wonder, "How am I going to get through
this? will God really do what the bible says He can do?, is all this trusting in vain?".
The stressors of our society have an amazing way of breaking both the strongest and most
faith filled person. It is astonishing and alarming at the same time.
For those who don't give up at those times, the only thing
that we latch onto is the hope that we have in God. There has to come a point where
humility must take grasp of our hearts. We must realize that we cannot get through this
world using our perceived strength alone. There are situations that we are faced with
on a daily basis that call for a power that is greater than ours. In those times we have
to humbly submit to God in order to get through our particular life situations. Sometimes
it takes a challenging situation that brings us to our knees for us to accept that.
We have to come to the realization that within every mess
there is a message that God is continually trying to teach us, until we fully grasp it.
The most consistent message that God wants to teach His children is to trust in Him. It
is not through lashing out or cursing at our life situations, but it is by stopping and
with whatever strength remaining within us turning to God. It is by our willingness to
surrender to God's will and His movements in our lives that we are given the ability to
overcome our struggles. It is in the midst of our deepest struggles that we are able to
manifest our most powerful God given gifts. It is by our willingness to let go of our
perceived struggles that are able to grasp hold of reality.
Surrender is not a one time purely emotional act. It is a
free, daily, conscious choice. Surrender is making yourself a gift to God. Surrender
has to be threaded throughout our lives. We have to learn to let our surrendering to the
Lord encompass our lives. Our prayers must be an act of surrender. Our acts of love
must be an act of surrender.
Jesus taught us the power of surrender. It is in our surrender
that we are set free, and in our willingness to be weak that we are given strength.
Surrender is something that does not come natural but for which our faith prepares us.
Surrender into the will of God is the only way to make sense of this world. When we
surrender we learn the difference between perception and reality. Our perception is not
always our reality. We are able to realize that the events and situations in our life that
we perceive as mountains and struggles are only lessons that the Lord is guiding us
through.
