Lent Worship Lifestyle 3/5 (Surrender)
| "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done." (Luke22:42) |
This is our third watering can for a lifestyle of worship.
Surrender: A White Flag. I yield. I submit. I give.
During Lent many of us fast - we give up chocolate or facebook or some other habits as though to say: "God, You are more important than this."
Surrender can take a number of forms:
- We might need to admit our pride, that we've tried to be our own gods - we've worshipped at the altar of ego.
- Sometimes we need to confess a sin that has become a bad habit and then we need take concrete steps to break this habit. Many years ago a colleague gave me his laptop and said "make it so that I can't go to websites where I look at things I shouldn't". It cost him his pride, but he was serious about beating his addiction and surrendering to God.
- It could be that we have attitudes of entitlement or judgement that cause us to see ourselves as better than, more deserving than others and we seek to be served rather than to serve.
- Materialism and comfort can become the core purpose of our lives. We need to relinquish the hold our stuff has on us.
There are many things that can take a hold of our lives. Surrender is to yield to God's plan and purpose for our lives.
John Wimber tells the story of his grandson watching a "cops and robbers" series on TV and when an arrest scene came up and the "baddie" had his hands in the air, Wimber's grandson said "Is he worshipping?"
When we lift our hands in worship it is a symbolic form of surrender - we're saying: "I yield. I give. You're the boss. You're right - I'm wrong. You're God - I'm not.
What do you need to surrender to God this Lent season?
When we do this - when we surrender - we, like the prodigal son, will discover that surrender doesn't lead to handcuffs, but the Father's embrace and a robe, a ring and a feast!
