This blog post combines the last thought in the formula I’ve been sharing:
To know Him is to love Him.
To love Him is to trust Him.
To trust Him is to obey Him.
To obey Him is to follow Him.
To follow Him is to die to our self/absolute surrender and walk in abundant life.
Absolute Surrender and Abundant Life—even though they sound completely opposed, are actually one and the same.
In the previous blog, I talked about how we must allow Christ to pull out, scald away, burn off the dross in our lives. Or amputate and carry off the dead and dying parts of us as a branch on the Vine who is Christ. It is PAINFUL and it will make you SUFFER. And you can do this every day for the rest of your life if you’d like to...but I don’t recommend it.
There’s a story in the Chronicles of Narnia that illustrates what I mean. Eustace finds a treasure and a magical arm bracelet and it transforms him into a dragon. He is devastated when he figures out what has happened. The only one who can rescue him is Aslan. So he repents and Aslan breathes on him and removes a layer of the dragon skin and it stings, like a band-aid being ripped off or a wind-burn. Then, when he does it again, Eustance asks if there’s a quicker way. Aslan tells him there is, but it will REALLY hurt for a few moments, but then it will be over.
Eustace surrenders himself to Aslan’s paws. Gently ever so gently but painfully Aslan uses his nail to cut down through all the layers down to the boy Eustace. They peel off all the layers and it HURTS LIKE THE DICKENS! But it is DONE.
That’s what Absolute Surrender is like.
In a book with that same title by Andrew Murray—by far the most influential book I’ve read other than the Bible—I learned of Absolute Surrender. He explains what it is, who requires it of you, who enables it, who keeps you in it—and he leads you down the path to say to God:
All that I am, all that I’m not, and all that I ever hope to be— I surrender absolutely.
This is not some kind of “yielding” thing. I never understood that term—it’s a traffic term. You give a little, I give a little...no! This is not where you get up on the altar and get back off again. This is it. DONE. FINISHED. You don’t get up from the altar, you’re dead.
This is the final death, by the way. Not the one where your body expires when you are old and you pass over. This is when God calls you to “set your face toward Jerusalem” like Christ did, for the “cup set before you” so you can DIE to yourself so that Christ can LIVE through you and in you. This is where the life-source is.
If you have ever been on mountain-top experiences/camp and come home only to have the fervor and fire drain out of you...this is your answer. If you’ve ever felt like a lamp without a constant source of life to plug into...this is your answer. If you feel like you missed “the memo” that your friends must have gotten because they seem to be living this life for Christ with fire and passion and you’re just doing the motions...or you’re like a runner who is smack in front of a brick wall and you’re running in place, waving at the other runners as they run the Great Race...this is your answer!
All that you are—your fears, your foibles, your insecurities, your creativity, your strengths, your weaknesses, your identity, your doubts, your hopes, your dreams, your passions, your EVERYTHING...all that you are not (the good, the bad, and the ugly) and all that you ever hope to be, you surrender absolutely to Christ.
And this surrender is the Abundant Life.
In Christianity, there are so many paradoxes but the main is this: To live is Christ, to die is to gain. Death to self, complete and total surrender to Christ is life abundant.
When you, a branch on the vine, surrender to the Vine and are connected to His life, abiding in Christ, you find rest for our souls and power to sustain your walk:
“Of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God— and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”—1 Corinthians 1:30
The whole of the Christian life depends on our position on Christ. From being IN CHRIST, He becomes our wisdom:
“Abide in Him, the perfect revelation of all that God is and has for you.”—A. Murray
He becomes our righteousness (which most simply defined is where everything is as God would have it, in order and harmony with His will).
“Abide in Him as your righteousness, and dwell clothed with Him in that inner sanctuary of the Father’s favor and presence to which His righteousness gives you access.”—A. Murray
He also becomes our sanctification...holiness. There is no other way for us to become holy but by becoming partakers of the holiness of Christ.
“Abide in Him as your sanctification; the experience of His power to make you holy in spirit, soul, and body will make your faith alive…”—A. Murray
Finally, He becomes our redemption:
“Abide in Him as your redemption, and live, even here [on earth] as the heir of future glory...and the full power of His saving grace…”—A. Murray
This is revival: that we who were once dead are alive to Christ, alive IN CHRIST, living for Christ, BY CHRIST.