S210P7 – Our regular reminders: a life not ours
Lk. 17:32-33
Remember Lot’s wife. Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it.
He was a person who for many years felt no reason to search for a god. By the world’s standards, he had everything he needed and much more. He was not in want of finances, material things, or loving relationships. In his eyes, life was complete. When he came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, it was like a bonus. His attitude was that his faith would simply supplement the life he had built already. When God called him to something different, something more, he hesitated. The Lord was asking him to leave his great comfort to pursue a mystery. Although he had no problem making some changes to his life, the prospect of leaving his entire world for God to change was too much for him.
The way we know whether the heart has fully relinquished something to God is whether we look back with longing or regret for making the decision to surrender it to him. If we miss that which we have handed over to him, that is our red flag. To move forward obediently is to move forward confidently and joyfully. Once we are justified and must begin the process of changing over time, there will be much to change about ourselves. We will go through a daily cycle of giving ourselves over to God one piece at a time so that He can rebuild these temples. However, we cannot look back at the old self and wish to be there again. To give our lives to God completely for his purposes means that we lay down each part of ourselves without the desire or design to pick them back up.
God calls us to walk away from every evil, sinful part of our old lives. This should look like someone marching forward, head held high. We cannot slowly meander from the old life as if we are trying to hold on to it until that very last moment. This should not be a tug-of-war. Those who decline all that God offers so that they can hold on to the very little they have will lose even that very little in the end. They will be left with nothing at all. Logic would tell us that we should be more than happy to trade our temporary and imperfect lives for the eternal perfection God sets before us, the future hope which drives us. Father, make us people whose words are true when we say that we surrender all gladly to You.