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Friday, January 27, 2012

Reading, Writing, Coffee, & Surrender


         I'm a fan of online classes. They're more flexible than Gumby and make it possible to take more units. They also make it possible for me to study on my couch in the presence of  central heating, instead of in classrooms where central heating belongs in the same category as the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause. Anyways, those classes require students to type up self-introductions, answering prompts such as: "My hobby is..." My answer usually goes something like this:
     Mostly for fun I read and I write and I drink lots of black coffee. This also happens to be what I do for school- I'm a Communications major- so reading and writing and drinking coffee is probably what you'd find me doing at any given point during the day.
This semester is no exception to my reading/writing/coffee lifestyle. There  hasn't been a ton of time to just blog for fun. Over the past couple weeks, though,  I had an assignment to read through the book of Matthew and put together several informal responses for a discussion forum- I thought I would share one. The idea of surrender has been on my mind quite a bit lately, and these were some of my thoughts. ...

     In reading these chapters, the concept of dying to self kept sticking out to me. Maybe a better way to term it would be surrender, or the idea of poor in spirit. I’m thinking they all mean more or less the same thing, but I haven’t thought through it all yet.
                It starts with Jesus having compassion on the hungry- the 5,000+ hungry people following Him merely for the physical benefits. John had just died and Jesus had retreated to somewhere ‘desolate’. His cousin and dear friend had just been beheaded. Yet all these people still followed Him, and He had compassion.
                And then He walks on water. (This is related, promise!). I love this account because it is very true, yet also makes for a timely metaphor of the veritable storms of life. Jesus is there during my trials- He was there as the disciples cried out in fear in the midst of the thunder and waves-  and He reprimands, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” (14:31). Why do I doubt Him? Why did the disciples? For all doubt should be blotted out by the voice that proclaims: “Take heart, it is I. Do not be afraid” (14:27). I- protector, come to save, the one who controls the storm with a word and holds the molecules of the ocean together- it is He; do not be afraid. Commanding a storm with your voice is definitely a supernatural ability. Jesus was doing more than stopping the storm, He was revealing Himself as Messiah to the disciples. He was doing all this because it was His Father’s will and brought His Father glory. Nothing in His ministry was for His own glory- He had emptied Himself and surrendered His will to the Father.
                Jesus says to deny myself. To serve as He gave Himself to the 5,000 when I would have kept myself to one. The command to take up my cross is really one to surrender, to die to self. Because dying is living, giving of myself.
                Take the example of the Rich Young Ruler. He had done almost everything right. He was even double- checking, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” (19:16). But there was one significant factor that kept him from the Heavenly gates: he wouldn’t surrender.
                On the surface, he was just asked to give up his wealth. Of course this is an enormous request and undertaking. Typically I read this as an encounter designed to teach believers about the dangers of wealth. This is true, but there is more to it than that. It’s about the unwillingness to surrender everything- especially the idea that we can do the right combination of “good” and earn eternal life. Jesus even says it, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good.” (19:17).
                Who  is good. Not a thing or a deed, but a Who. That ‘Who’ is Jesus Christ, who lived out “so the last will be first and the first last” (Matthew 20:16) and “whoever would be great among you must be a servant” (Matthew 20: 26).  Jesus was a servant, absolutely everything He did was under the guidance of His Father. He is the picture of surrender.