Fighting to the death seems to be a part of the human condition. Keep reading to discover how the body’s natural desire to live parallels the human spirit’s desire to do the same.
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” –Galatians 2:20
Fighting to the Death
Dying is not pretty. It may be peaceful, but it is not pretty. The will to live is too strong. I have seen this time and again as a hospice bereavement coordinator. Many times patients will be in a completely emaciated state, having lost their ability to drink, eat, or speak, yet they still fight valiantly to survive.
And so it is with our human will. Our sense of self is too strong. We say we want to be sold out to Christ. Yet we barter and bargain with God to die half-way. To surrender some, but not all. We say things like,
“God, I will give you my time and my money, but don’t you dare touch my health.” Or we tell Him that He can have all of us, except that one very painful wound from our past that we want to pet, and coo, and stew over.
But the truth is there is no such thing as a half-surrender. You don’t half-quit your job. You don’t half-get a divorce. You don’t half-sell your car. And you don’t go into surgery and tell them to only take half of your gallstones. Instead, you completely surrender your rights to the job, the marriage, the car, and your gallstones. Because you understand that it would be insanity to do otherwise.
Yet we constantly try to half-surrender with God. (I am in the midst of a half-surrender bartering conversation with God right now. Shameful to admit, but it is the truth.) We want all of the blessings, protection and provision that God can bestow on us, but we don’t want to fully give him all. Like Rachel,
sitting on her hidden idols to hide them from her father Laban, we pretend that everything within us great, when in fact we know that there is that one thing that God wants most of all for us to surrender completely to Him.
Yet we understand that in order to be fully be used of Christ we must be crucified with Him. We must stop fighting to the death and choose full surrender. And so the decision is yours… and mine. Will you surrender all? Will I? Take a step of faith – a cyber coming to the altar if you will and leave a comment declaring your intentions today.
