Shawn King / Audio Arts Engineer
Have
we trials and temptations…
Recently
I had the opportunity to speak at the college ministry. As I was preparing, I
spent time thinking over the grace that God has given me and the things that He
has truly pulled me out of. The interesting thing was that as I looked back at
the point of my surrender I reveled at the simplicity of it. In that moment I
declared, with more frustration than joy, “I GIVE UP!!!” I finally understood
what I was capable of on my own…not much. The surrender had no strings
attached, no conditions. There was no treaty, it was surrender.
As
I thought about that time, I realized that over the years there were things
that I had reneged on. Things I said, “Thanks God, you saved me, but can I have
those back now?” As with most people the biggest of these things were, simply put,
trials and temptations. The hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” so much
expresses the insanity of it: “O what peace we often forfeit, oh what needless
pain we bear.” That is so true and honest. If I remain there and complicate my
surrender to Christ with conditions and clauses, I forfeit peace and joy for
the sake of pride and stubbornness. I pray your surrender to Christ is as
simple today as the day when you raised the white flag.