Not long ago I was blessed by a friend who shared with me how God had been working to bring her to full surrender in her heart. She said, “All along I kept saying, ‘God, I AM surrendered.’ But I was never fully at peace. I couldn’t really put my finger on it. I was serving God, praying to God, doing what a Christian should. Why didn’t I feel free? Why did I struggle with so many things? God knew there was more in my heart to give over to Him. That’s the journey I’ve been on.” Does any of this sound like you? I wrote a blog in 2016 about why things seem to not add up. Here’s the post:
The other day I saw something interesting in my facebook news feed. It was an equation that didn’t add up correctly. The challenge was to move one element of the equation and make it true. I figured it out and was pleasantly amused. In the context of the Christian life, I can think of some equations we seek to live as believers that will never add up. Some believe that Christianity is simply this… if we add God to our lives we will get what it is that our hearts really want.
Me + God = good health / beauty
Me + God = wealth and ease
Maybe we would never say this. Maybe we aren’t even aware that this is the foundation of our decision to “accept Christ” in our lives but we somehow think if we add God to our lives, that thing we always hoped for will come to us. Maybe in your life, the equation is more complex…Sometimes we think if we add an extra component, maybe THEN things will work out and we will get what we want most deeply.
Me + good works + God = a rescue from an unhappy marriage
Me + empty promises of devotion + God = popularity and self esteem
Me + church attendance + God = protection from life’s trials
I can remember a time in my life where I set out determined to be a really “good Christian” so that God would feel inclined to bless me and give me what my heart desired. On this journey with Christ, I have found that God doesn’t work that way. And He patiently teaches me this as I am willing to give up my false ideas of who I want Him to be and learn who He really is.
Using God to get closer to a desire is not salvation at all. It may be a harsh reality, but I have found from my own experience that God isn’t interested in giving me what I want. He’s interested in giving me what He wants for me. Namely Himself. It’s true that God sent Christ so that we could have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10) This life He’s talking about is not just earthly life…He offers life eternal that begins when we say yes to Him. And He tells us in John 17:3 that this life He offers us is, simply defined,…to know God through Christ.
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3
Often people love to quote the passage Jeremiah 29:11 –
For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
We take this verse and begin making our wish list known to God and then expect Him to act. What we miss are the verses that follow… 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. (Emphasis mine) Notice what verse 13 says, You will seek and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
The wrong equation will never add up to the right answer.
What Christ came to give us is not a life we map out for ourselves but a life with God. He alone satisfies. We will never see this until we forsake lesser pursuits. If you find that you’ve been saying to yourself, “this Christian life just isn’t adding up”, maybe it’s time to go back and check your work. Perhaps you need to rewrite your equation… You + full surrender (your marriage, your health, your self-esteem, your pursuits, your hurt, your goals, your children, all of it) = God When God is the answer I seek, I will find Him through surrendering my life and all things in it. This is God’s grand design. This is how God glorifies Himself in our lives.
You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Psalm 16:11
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2
Calling upon Christ for salvation is the beautiful plan God has established to reconcile us to Himself. Our relationship with God was broken because of our sin. But Christ came to earth to die for our sin and bridge that gap that kept us from a Holy God. That is the work of the Gospel. It’s God’s rescue plan for us. He desires to restore that broken relationship with you and He’s done everything necessary to make it possible.
I want to leave you with a quote from John Piper in his book, God is the Gospel . He says,
My point is that all the saving events and all the saving blessings of the gospel are means of getting obstacles out of the way so that we might know and enjoy God most fully. (for instance) reconciliation, redemption, forgiveness, imputation (the receiving of Christ’s righteousness), sanctification, healing, heaven– none of these is good news except for one reason: they bring us to God for our everlasting enjoyment of him. If we believe all these things have happened to us, but do not embrace them for the sake of getting to God, they have not happened to us. Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God. It’s a way of overcoming every obstacle to everlasting joy in God. If we don’t want God above all things, we have not been converted by the gospel.
If you’re struggling today, finding that nothing is adding up…I encourage you go back and rework the equation. Surrender to God today. Seek God above all else. He is worthy of all praise and glory. You will find He is what you’ve been yearning for all along.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Eph 3:20
