image from soulation
Following Jesus is a dance, of hopes, expectations, wondering and sometimes doubting. Just how much power does God have? Do our choices have consequences? Is there a key to unlocking God’s power in our lives?
Before we began
I wondered
could you fill
the voids in my life
change the traits I could not?
I yielded
You did it all
which leads me to believe
you have power to transform
In our early years
I wondered
could others experience you
as I did
transformation beyond themselves?
They yielded
You did it all
again
which leads me to believe
you have power to transform
As years passed
I wondered
why some (even I at times) had
lives untransformed
hopes disappointed?
You didn’t do it
this time
which leads me to believe
your power might have limits
In our recent years
all sense of wonder gone
I think I’ve seen the key
which leads me to believe
you work in yielded lives
Paradoxes perplex and entrance me. Two statements: both true, both incompatible. God’s power to transform fits that category. God can do all. He wants to. But he doesn’t always. Why? Is he truly not all powerful, or not all loving?
A recent study group explored Philippians 2:12-13, “Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed— not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence— continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
But the only way to synthesize the issue is in the last line of the poem—God works in yielded lives. I’ve found he tends to avoid bulldozing us. Oh, he’ll do that to followers who continually resist him, but only as a final extreme. And yes, he’s done that to me. More than once. I’m trying to learn, and perhaps this post reveals that process still continues.
Our task: to work out our salvation. To do our role, what we can do. That includes obedience. God’s task: to work in us so we can do our task. To work for good. A holy partnership, each doing what the other cannot...or chooses not to.
Ironically, I’ve found that the more of my life I surrender to God, the more frequently I do it, the deeper I do it, then the more free I become. The greater peace I feel. But that’s probably a paradox for another time.
Kick Starting the Discussion
On the continuum of “just believe and it doesn’t matter what you do” to “you have to be good to go to heaven,” where do you land? Why? How difficult is it for you to surrender to God on a daily basis? Why is that, for you? Do you have any special areas where surrendering is exceptionally difficult?
What have you found that makes surrendering easier?