Take My Moments

Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Surrender never comes naturally. The world, specifically this American culture shouts and demands us to focus on ourselves, to put our wants, desires, ideals above anything else. So we "accept" salvation, we confess our fallen nature and yearn for freedom from this bondage. Freedom from what; salvation for whom? We're free from sin, we're free from legalism and the Law. But why? Do we seek salvation; do we "convert" for God or for ourselves? Have Christians made the gospel so "I" focused that we have left out our Lord?

So we accept a salvation for ourselves and commit to a life of freedom for ourselves (again) and live a faith that fits into what we want, truth we feel is right and convenient (once again, for ourselves). We have Americanized and consumerized the Gospel and ignored the Lordship of it all. It is no longer about surrender, but satisfaction.

As we continue to grow in our faith and learn from the Bible, we realize that there has to be some element of surrender, so we begin to turn over the "big" things to God- life choices, our job status, the health of a family member, the life or death of a friend. We seek God's will for those things, if we ever truly seek it at all.

Instead it should be "take my Moments and my Days"- all. the. time. surrender. I surrender my time. All "free time" is His. I surrender lazy days, meaningless conversations... I give up my "right" to procrastinating, to piddling around, to wasting time. I lay down selfishness and turning down others' needs in favor of my wants.

I live for DAILY worship, DAILY prayer, DAILY devotion. I look for opportunities to serve. I will seek intentional conversations and friendships, entertainment that is edifying and beneficial to my body, mind, and spirit. I will spend my time engaged in activities that will promote God's kingdom, seek His will, and glorify His name. I will rejoice in schedule disruptions, unplanned demands, and frustrating situations; seeing them as opportunities to minister and share Christ's love. I will be alert and never pass up Holy urgings to be loving, gracious, compassionate, patient, or kind.

I know that I'm gonna mess up, I know I'm not gonna get that all right (far from it.. lol), and I know that's ok. And I'll give it my best. :)

Take My Life

Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee...

Surrender. To give up. To cease from fighting, rebelling, acting against. To relinquish one's rights, freedoms, liberties to another. To lay down arms. Everything. Holding nothing back.

With salvation comes surrender. Christ is not a commitment. He surrendered Heaven, surrendered freedom from pain, struggle, suffering. He surrendered perfection and put on humanity's sin on the cross; he surrendered His life for mine.

To follow the example of Christ is to follow a life of complete and total surrender to the will of the Father. It means all of me, every day, every hour, every moment, for the rest of my days.