Surrender Some & Sharing None

We sang a song in church today that talks about surrendering all to God and sharing in His pain. We sing those words that are certainly based on Scripture (2 Timothy 1:7-9; Gal. 2:20; 2 Tim. 2:10-12), but how well do we follow it? Do we really surrender all and strive to share in His Pain?

How often have we not shared our faith or let people know our Christianinty because of fear, embarrasement or “not the right time or place?” Is that sharing in His pain or surrendering to Him? It is a good time to reflect on this since we just finished celebrating the ultimate pain done for us – the crucifixion, and then the greatest celebration – the resurrection. We celebrate these days with great fervor, but do we live it out in our lives, our whole life, and not just parts of our lives where it is comfortable. Do you think Jesus would not talk about spiritual matters with school students, even while at school? Do you think He would avoid the conversation at work, at play, or even over a cup of coffee?

Jesus exuded spirituality in all He did. He talked about spiritual matters in all He did, by living it out or purposely discussing it, because it was so much a part of Him and He saw it as the most important matter. Do we? I go back to the song of surrending and sharing, and do we do these? Because if we did then we would do the things that Christ did, because we are surrending to His will, which will lead to sharing in His pain, whether it is emotional, physical or psychological.

One will naturally follow the other because the world hates the things of God. When we are in His will, we naturally have a reaction by the world, and Christians that hold onto worldly things. Christ was always being ridiculed, thereatened and ultimately physically abused and murdered for walking the Christian walk. The same happened to the apostles and today many people around the world are being murdered, made fun of and abused for following Jesus.

I guess we have to ask ourselves that if our lives are so cushy and everyone in the world loves us, are we actually surrendering all and sharing in His pain. I am not saying we purposely try to have people ridicule, hate or abuse us, but are there things we should be doing that we don’t because we are afraid of those very things. Do we hold onto different items, beliefs or actions because we like them, want them to be okay or purposely rebel against God instead of surrendering to His will.

It is not easy and we all need to work in this area. How are you doing? I know I need to continue to work at it. John 15:18-19 says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”