03/28/24 A REMINDER

03/28/24 A REMINDER

I realize this post will not appeal to everyone. However, maybe it has something that can make a difference in your life.
Those who joyfully surrender to God, have real joy.

Those who "hold out" on God are weighed down with misery.
Total surrender is the path to liberty, joy, peace, power.
Resistance to total surrender, leads to grief, turmoil, weakness.
Total surrender comes with death to self and death to the world.
Holding on to the self and the world results in the loss of a relationship with God, loss of victory over sin, loss of eternity with God.
There is nothing positive gained by holding back from God.
There is nothing negative in surrendering completely to God.

Human beings are enabled to exercise freedom of will, for the purpose of accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, and for the purpose of living a Christ filled and Spirit led life. Our free will led us into disobedience, to sin against God. But God, Who is greater than our sin, enables sinners to realize their guilt and their need for Divine deliverance, leading to faith, repentance, confession and submission.

Sadly, most Christians (whether Reformed, Calvinistic, Arminian or whatever), use their free will to live their lives according to their own desires and the wisdom of this world. It is as if they are saying, "Okay God, thanks for the forgiveness, I will take it from here... unless I run into a super large problem that I cannot handle."

NO, that is not the way salvation works. The Christian life is a life of trusting, obedient, submissive following. Anything less is either the beginning of active anarchy on some level. Unsurrendered free will is not only used to commit overt, moral sins, it is used to make seemingly, "mundane decisions." The problem is, unless it is the color of your socks for the day, most decisions are significant and should be made in the light of God's word, Holy Spirit leading and godly counsel. He will not only lead us not into temptation, but His leading will deliver us from evil. Salvation is not only justification and regeneration by faith, it is living by faith, walking by faith.

But then again, people (of all stripes) think that God has no business in their personal business.