Never consider whether or not you are of use— but always consider that “you are not your own” (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are His.
What do I count in my life as “dear to myself”? If I have not been seized by Jesus Christ and have not surrendered myself to Him, I will consider the time I decide to give God and my own ideas of service as dear. I will also consider my own life as “dear to myself."
These are words from today's devotional. I find them to ring true, of course. I have been trying to surrender more...and learning what that really means. One of the things I am discovering is to surrender regret to him. Sometimes I look back at my life and say , "What if...?" Or I say, "If only..." God has been showing me that those questions are really an affront to His will for me. Everything has happened according to his will and plan. Nothing escapes Him. He knows all events-past, present and future. Nothing slips by him accidentally. So I must surrender "my own dear life" to Him. That means my past life and what I, in my arrogance would have considered a better plan. This means my present life....in what I want now...and my disappointments now. And of course....the ever present unknown future to Him. Incidentally, it is not really "unknown" because He knows it.
Surrender means I can look back on painful circumstances and understand that He was in all of it. That He actually orchestrated all of it. All of it. Illnesses. Health. Broken relationships. Closed doors. Open windows. Lost loves. New found loves. Broken hearts. Recovery. Marriage. Children. Jobs. Unemployment. Employment. Lack of money. Having money. Grief. Joy.
Does this mean we have no choices? No. But it means that He knows...and it all is going to be okay. I am not my own. I am His. This is my greatest comfort and security.
I struggle with these same issues and have come face to face with them again in the past few weeks. It has been hard to see the ugliness in my own heart. Praise God for the cleansing blood of Jesus. Without Him I would be stranded in regret and despair, but by His mercy and grace there is always forgiveness and hope.
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