Sweet Surrender!

"For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." 

Philippians 2:13

My little white flag just went up. Do you see it? I'm waving it weakly back and forth in front of you. I held it out long enough and finally, I surrender. I give up. You win. All my resistance is gone. I am no match for you, you irresistible Chocolate-Brownie-Fudge Pie! I surrender all my resistance, all my will power, all my diet plans, and I run toward you with a fork in my hand. Ah, but it is a sweet surrender! Mmm, delicious!

While I may joke about surrendering to chocolate, I wonder about the the kinds of things we usually yield to helplessly. We all have weaknesses, areas of strongest temptation and feeblest resistance against which we cannot stand on our own. Maybe we surrender to gossip or gluttony. Perhaps we give in to peer pressure, envy, or greed. Possibly, we struggle with an addiction to something that hurts us and those we love. 

In His sweet mercy and grace, our heavenly Father saw us drowning in our sins, weaknesses, and temptations. He lifted us out, saving us from our faults and failures and forgiving us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit working through God's Word breathed new life into us and filled us with faith.

God traded our weakness for His strength and enabled us to surrender to the Lord! We give up: We give up all our feeble attempts to be strong enough on our own, all our futile efforts to do good things by our own strength. You win, God! You won salvation for us when You defeated sin, death, and the devil. In Your victory, You give us eternal life in Christ! All our resistance disappears. Through the power of the Spirit, we no longer resist Your lead, but gladly follow.

In our sin, we cannot match God's holiness, but He took away our sin and made us holy in Christ! We surrender all our foolish plans, selfish ambitions, and evil thoughts and ways to God's perfect ones. Jesus runs toward us with outstretched arms. Filled with His Spirit, we yield to His loving touch. Truly, this is sweet, sweet surrender!

Surrendered, we can only imagine the amazing work ahead as the Spirit works in us, fulfilling His plans and purposes according to His perfect will.

Lord, do with me what You will today. I surrender my ways to You. Work in and through me to do Your will, for Your purposes, and for Your good pleasure. 

In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

From A Chocolate Life by Deb Burma © CPH. Reprinted with permission.