The reason secular religions are so popular today is that
they do not require us to give up control of our life. They give us permission
to attempt to perfect our own self through a series of mantras, religious
activities and self-denial. In contrast, authentic Christianity requires total
surrender of our entire body, soul and spirit to the ministrations of God's
Holy Spirit.
Surrender is much harder for the human mind to accept than
the concept of working for one's own salvation. Most people are too busy for
God anyway, except when life gets too hard to handle. When we get in distress
or some type of trouble, we quickly turn and run into God’s everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:26-28).
We soak up all of His love and comfort until we feel strong enough to face
life.
We use Him like an Aladdin’s Lamp to grant our three
wishes. Then, we leave God in our prayer closet and come out with the false
confidence that we can do all things on our own again. We quickly get side
tracked by life and its demands and forget all about God until we need Him
again. We even forget to thank Him for His blessings in our life (Luke 17:17).
God desires fellowship with His creation. All of nature
knows this and even the trees of the fields clap their hands in praise to our
Creator God (Isaiah
55:12; 1 Chronicles 16:30-34). Most people, even some Christians, are
not conscious of God’s continual presence in the life of a Believer. Only
authentic Believers relinquish our will to God and submit to His plan and
purpose for our life (Ephesians
2:10).
Prayer:
Father God, even though You never give us more temptation
than we can handle without giving us a way to escape (1 Corinthians 10:13), You often give
us more trials than we can handle in order to prove to us that we need You in
our life. These trials are never more than You can handle, however. Teach us to
walk in Your Spirit every moment of the day and to perform only those works,
which You created us to do (Ephesians 2:10).
Thought for the Day:
Self-effort is the enemy of an intimate relationship with
God.
