With commitment the focus is on what you are giving into the relationship. With surrender the focus is on what you are giving up for the relationship. This may be a surprise to most but the bible never uses either of those words to describe our relationship with God. The word that is used is submission which literally means "voluntary cooperation."
Commitment proclaims, "My utmost for His highest." Cooperation says, "His highest is fun!" Surrender says, "More of Him & less of me." Cooperation says, "Us." Commitment burdens you. Surrender takes away your value. Voluntary Cooperation gives you value without giving you burden. With cooperation the focus is not on what you are giving to God or giving up for God but on what God is giving you!
Commitment thinks God is demanding, "Do my will." Surrender thinks God is demanding, "Deny yourself." Cooperation knows God is offering, saying, "I've thought of some great things we can do today. What do you want to do with me?"
Synonyms for commitment are obligation, duty, adherence, dedication, devotion, responsibility, liability, promise, vow, oath, pledge.
Synonyms for surrender are despair, defeatism, giving up, quit, cave in, throw in the towel, succumb, resign, loss.
Synonyms for cooperation are unity, teamwork, collaboration, help, assistance, participation, responsiveness, helpfulness.
Commitment is the language of the law. Surrender is the language of shame. Cooperation is the language of loving relationship. Religion has added, removed, or reinterpreted words but God chose wisely the words He used. He doesn't demand commitment or surrender. He lovingly requests cooperation both for salvation and day to day living.
Remember we are His children & His friends. Our Father just wants to have a good time loving His kids & bringing more people into the family. He says, "Wanna go do something today for your older brother? Wanna go do something today for your younger sister?" No one in His family is looked down upon for opting out. They are loved just the same. Yes they are missing out on a good time with the Father & the family but they will be treated no worse by the Father even if they never want to cooperate. He will love us into participation & cooperation. That is our Father's unconditional love. Everyone is free & everyone is favored. Who could ask for anything more?
Showing posts with label submit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label submit. Show all posts
Monday, October 15, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
Cooperation not Control, Commitment, or Promises
Most teach that we should "give God control." That we should pray for God to "control" us. But scripture never uses that sort of language. It says for us to walk with God & to cooperate with Him. It is always a relationship. It is never "all me" or "all Him." It is "us together." That is how Jesus lived with the Father.
We cannot "hand over the controls" of our life to God. God will not magically override your free will just because you said you'd "surrender" your will to Him. Surrender is a term never used in scripture for our relationship with God. The word that is used is "submit" and it literally means "voluntary cooperation." It is a relational walk not a switch off. It happens decision by decision. You cannot blanket cooperate. You have to do it in time as God directs. The idea of "surrender" & "giving God control" is often approached as a switch off. Your part is to pray a morning prayer where you declare blanket "surrender of your day." Life doesn't work like that. You can't say to your boss, "I surrender my day to you" and expect him to do all of your work or even that somehow the right work will get done. Communication lines must stay open.
The bible doesn't use the word "commit" or "commitment" either. Commit, as I've always heard it used in religion, means "dedicate, pledge, promise, to put yourself under obligation.1" Jesus told us that it is not good to make promises to God (Matthew 5:33-37). Instead He tells us only to use an honest "Yes" or "No" as questions arise. We aren't to live by the promises we make to God but the promises He has made to us. Religion constantly takes the focus off of God & our legitimate relationship with Him in favor of rules to keep & promises to make. Whether it is realized or not both are based solely in human effort.
Making promises to God is ineffective because they are either theoretical or made outside of a situation. Jesus said anything beyond an honest "Yes" or "No" "comes from evil.2" So sad it is then that religion teaches the Christian life as almost based solely on promise making. Repent is falsely taught to mean "promise to God that you will not repeat a sin." It is also taught that you should "repent" however often you do something you think is sin which can be many times a day. (Repent actually means "change your mind" not "to promise to change your mind" but an actual change of mind). Instead of realizing that we "cannot make one hair white or black" we set ourselves up for perpetual disappointment.
God never intended for us to live in an endless cycle of make promise/break promise/shame/recommitment. I dare say the majority of Christians live that way. I lived that way for about 10 years as a Christian. God's love is unconditional and it is based on His perfectly trustworthy promises not on my so called obedience. I say "so called obedience" because most are taught to obey rules/principles that either God never told them to obey or that were never biblical in the first place.
While cooperation (the literal meaning of submission in the bible) can involve you choosing God's will over your own, the focus is not on what you are giving up (like it is with commitment & surrender) but on what God is giving you!
Commitment & surrender are based on human instigation & effort. In cooperation God guides & we respond. God is the instigator, the wisdom, and the power source. We are His beloved children. The more we cooperate with Him through trust the more we will enjoy the love & experience of walking with our awesome Father!
1Commit, meaning entrust, is a good thing but it still has to happen as you walk through life. Entrusting yourself to God gives you eternal salvation & a new identity (spirit) in Christ but opportunities for entrusting yourself to God happen as you walk through life with Him. You have to choose to trust Him as things happen. It sounds simple and it is.
2Religion evil? No surprise to me.
We cannot "hand over the controls" of our life to God. God will not magically override your free will just because you said you'd "surrender" your will to Him. Surrender is a term never used in scripture for our relationship with God. The word that is used is "submit" and it literally means "voluntary cooperation." It is a relational walk not a switch off. It happens decision by decision. You cannot blanket cooperate. You have to do it in time as God directs. The idea of "surrender" & "giving God control" is often approached as a switch off. Your part is to pray a morning prayer where you declare blanket "surrender of your day." Life doesn't work like that. You can't say to your boss, "I surrender my day to you" and expect him to do all of your work or even that somehow the right work will get done. Communication lines must stay open.
The bible doesn't use the word "commit" or "commitment" either. Commit, as I've always heard it used in religion, means "dedicate, pledge, promise, to put yourself under obligation.1" Jesus told us that it is not good to make promises to God (Matthew 5:33-37). Instead He tells us only to use an honest "Yes" or "No" as questions arise. We aren't to live by the promises we make to God but the promises He has made to us. Religion constantly takes the focus off of God & our legitimate relationship with Him in favor of rules to keep & promises to make. Whether it is realized or not both are based solely in human effort.
Making promises to God is ineffective because they are either theoretical or made outside of a situation. Jesus said anything beyond an honest "Yes" or "No" "comes from evil.2" So sad it is then that religion teaches the Christian life as almost based solely on promise making. Repent is falsely taught to mean "promise to God that you will not repeat a sin." It is also taught that you should "repent" however often you do something you think is sin which can be many times a day. (Repent actually means "change your mind" not "to promise to change your mind" but an actual change of mind). Instead of realizing that we "cannot make one hair white or black" we set ourselves up for perpetual disappointment.
God never intended for us to live in an endless cycle of make promise/break promise/shame/recommitment. I dare say the majority of Christians live that way. I lived that way for about 10 years as a Christian. God's love is unconditional and it is based on His perfectly trustworthy promises not on my so called obedience. I say "so called obedience" because most are taught to obey rules/principles that either God never told them to obey or that were never biblical in the first place.
While cooperation (the literal meaning of submission in the bible) can involve you choosing God's will over your own, the focus is not on what you are giving up (like it is with commitment & surrender) but on what God is giving you!
Commitment & surrender are based on human instigation & effort. In cooperation God guides & we respond. God is the instigator, the wisdom, and the power source. We are His beloved children. The more we cooperate with Him through trust the more we will enjoy the love & experience of walking with our awesome Father!
"The love of Christ grips us & compels us. His love holds us together & gives us security. We can see the wonder of His love because He has died for all. So now we who have living spirits may no longer live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us and rose again. The love of Christ surrounds us!"
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
(2 Corinthians 5:14-15)
1Commit, meaning entrust, is a good thing but it still has to happen as you walk through life. Entrusting yourself to God gives you eternal salvation & a new identity (spirit) in Christ but opportunities for entrusting yourself to God happen as you walk through life with Him. You have to choose to trust Him as things happen. It sounds simple and it is.
2Religion evil? No surprise to me.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Love and Cooperation, God's Will and God's Best
The Christian life is one of cooperation. God does not use you. You are not a tool. You are His friend not His slave. You are not to be passive but empowered. God will say to you "Will you do this with me?" if you say "No" God will not force you to do it, He will not hold it against you, He will not love you any less, He will not curse you, you will not lose favor with Him. You will however have to live with the natural consequences of not cooperating with your all wise, all loving, all knowing Father.
God knows what is best for you. Amazingly what is best for you is best for everyone, God, yourself, and others. This is possible because God is love and all about love. God's best for you does not mean second best for others. His best always involves people recognizing His love and His love being shown through His people cooperating with Him.
By "God's best" I do not mean "God's perfect will" as it is so often taught. The teaching I am talking about says "God has a plan A and if you miss His plan A then you go to plan B" and so on. That false notion of God's will says that His purpose means more to Him than His people. God's purpose is His people! God does not curse you for your disobedience or lack of cooperation by putting you on plan B. This idea of God's will says that God condemns you forever for your mistakes, not true! If Jesus can redeem you from your sinful state then He has no problem redeeming your mistakes and failures.
God's best (His will) has you experiencing and seeing His love no matter where you are. His best empowers your successes, redeems your failures, and has His love pouring out of you for others. You, God's dearly loved child, get to work with your amazingly loving and affectionate Father. When you understand that serving Him equals working with Him as Jesus did you will not experience the burden of obeying like a servant but the joy of willingly working with a friend.
Jesus said, "I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. I never act alone, I always act with my Father." (John 5:19-20)
God knows what is best for you. Amazingly what is best for you is best for everyone, God, yourself, and others. This is possible because God is love and all about love. God's best for you does not mean second best for others. His best always involves people recognizing His love and His love being shown through His people cooperating with Him.
By "God's best" I do not mean "God's perfect will" as it is so often taught. The teaching I am talking about says "God has a plan A and if you miss His plan A then you go to plan B" and so on. That false notion of God's will says that His purpose means more to Him than His people. God's purpose is His people! God does not curse you for your disobedience or lack of cooperation by putting you on plan B. This idea of God's will says that God condemns you forever for your mistakes, not true! If Jesus can redeem you from your sinful state then He has no problem redeeming your mistakes and failures.
God's best (His will) has you experiencing and seeing His love no matter where you are. His best empowers your successes, redeems your failures, and has His love pouring out of you for others. You, God's dearly loved child, get to work with your amazingly loving and affectionate Father. When you understand that serving Him equals working with Him as Jesus did you will not experience the burden of obeying like a servant but the joy of willingly working with a friend.
Jesus said, "I only do what I see my Father doing. Whatever my Father does, I do also. My Father loves me and shows me all he does. I never act alone, I always act with my Father." (John 5:19-20)
See this post for a closer look at John 5.
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