Broken for surrender
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about brokenness and surrender lately. On top of these, floating around in the vast space that is the Roach’s mind, is that God is the means to the desired end. It is my life, God is always the means to whatever the end. If it is humility, God is the means, not avoiding credit. If patience is the end, God is the means, not biting your tongue. You get the point. So as I’ve been thinking about the end of this Christian life I ask myself “what is God’s desired end in my life.” Easy: entire surrender; to be wholly yielded to the Father. But as I desire it (entire surrender) I have been wondering what the means is. I want to say the right thing and say that God is the means, but that seems too pat of an answer. This is what I’ve discovered.
God is the means, he is the ultimate catalyst. He is our starting point, forever and always. But there is a process that he chooses, his favorite road it seems, and that is the path of brokenness. But what is brokenness? It surely isn’t defeat (at least not in the hands of God) but it is a realization that you are helpless. Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel writes that hookers and swindlers get grace first because they live in the realization that they have nothing to lose, they are as powerless to control their lives as a new born baby. That’s brokenness: The realization that you really have no control, or power of the will, to make your life right, that all sovereignty belongs to God. When a person is broken, the next natural step is surrender. Think of the soldier who is surrounded by his enemy. The second he realizes that he cannot do anything to get himself out of the predicament, his next course of action is surrender, to throw himself at the mercy of his captor. There is a slight different between the soldier and the Christian. The soldier’s enemy forces him into surrender, leaving him no option. The Christian’s God offers the option, and waits for his child to come to him.
Step 1: realize that you have nothing, no power for change, no control over your life. You need God.
Step 2: Let Go. Give Up. Rest in his arms.
Broken for Surrender
Roach out.
God is the means, he is the ultimate catalyst. He is our starting point, forever and always. But there is a process that he chooses, his favorite road it seems, and that is the path of brokenness. But what is brokenness? It surely isn’t defeat (at least not in the hands of God) but it is a realization that you are helpless. Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel writes that hookers and swindlers get grace first because they live in the realization that they have nothing to lose, they are as powerless to control their lives as a new born baby. That’s brokenness: The realization that you really have no control, or power of the will, to make your life right, that all sovereignty belongs to God. When a person is broken, the next natural step is surrender. Think of the soldier who is surrounded by his enemy. The second he realizes that he cannot do anything to get himself out of the predicament, his next course of action is surrender, to throw himself at the mercy of his captor. There is a slight different between the soldier and the Christian. The soldier’s enemy forces him into surrender, leaving him no option. The Christian’s God offers the option, and waits for his child to come to him.
Step 1: realize that you have nothing, no power for change, no control over your life. You need God.
Step 2: Let Go. Give Up. Rest in his arms.
Broken for Surrender
Roach out.
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