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 surrender. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surrender. 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.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Why I Will Never Surrender to God
I just don't like it when people use the term "surrender" when talking about God but I keep running into people using it.
The word "surrender" is not used once in the New Testament. I've never heard it used positively in the secular world unless evil surrenders to good in a battle. We Christians are not evil! We are the loved, righteous, holy, perfected children of God! The first definition of surrender on Google is "Cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority." We are not at war with God! He is our friend, not our enemy!
Some use the word "surrender" instead of the word "submit" but that still doesn't sit right with me. Look how this phrase changes. "Wives submit to your husbands" turns into "Wives surrender to your husbands." Sounds sick and violent to me. Side note: The word "submit" in the bible is best translated as cooperate. It does not mean "utterly obey," as so often taught. If it did then "Submit to one another" would be senseless.
The great myth of performance based religion is that we are supposed to give our lives to God but the fact of grace is that God gives His life to us. We live by Him & with Him, not for Him. We always have His power and presence.
I hate that religion turns our loving Father into a competing force who blasts us until we give up. It teaches that God's bullets are conviction. Convict is a synonym for condemn and there is no condemnation in Christ! Scripture never says God will convict His children of sin. It only says He will convince them of righteousness. God will never guilt trip you. Don't feel righteous? It is ungodly for a Christian to feel unrighteous. God never causes you to feel that way. Empathy and compassion are godly, conviction is not.
We are in Christ. In Christ there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Stop identifying yourself by the flesh. Christ didn't bear the guilt of your sin just to have a reason to get revenge on you and make your life miserable by guilt tripping you every day. He took your sin away forever. He won't charge you with it. He doesn't even remember it. You aren't a bag of bones. You are God's everlasting & ever-loved spirit child! God is your Father not your foe. I will never surrender to God because I am on His side & Christ has already won the war.
The word "surrender" is not used once in the New Testament. I've never heard it used positively in the secular world unless evil surrenders to good in a battle. We Christians are not evil! We are the loved, righteous, holy, perfected children of God! The first definition of surrender on Google is "Cease resistance to an enemy or opponent and submit to their authority." We are not at war with God! He is our friend, not our enemy!
Some use the word "surrender" instead of the word "submit" but that still doesn't sit right with me. Look how this phrase changes. "Wives submit to your husbands" turns into "Wives surrender to your husbands." Sounds sick and violent to me. Side note: The word "submit" in the bible is best translated as cooperate. It does not mean "utterly obey," as so often taught. If it did then "Submit to one another" would be senseless.
The great myth of performance based religion is that we are supposed to give our lives to God but the fact of grace is that God gives His life to us. We live by Him & with Him, not for Him. We always have His power and presence.
I hate that religion turns our loving Father into a competing force who blasts us until we give up. It teaches that God's bullets are conviction. Convict is a synonym for condemn and there is no condemnation in Christ! Scripture never says God will convict His children of sin. It only says He will convince them of righteousness. God will never guilt trip you. Don't feel righteous? It is ungodly for a Christian to feel unrighteous. God never causes you to feel that way. Empathy and compassion are godly, conviction is not.
We are in Christ. In Christ there is no sin (1 John 3:5). Stop identifying yourself by the flesh. Christ didn't bear the guilt of your sin just to have a reason to get revenge on you and make your life miserable by guilt tripping you every day. He took your sin away forever. He won't charge you with it. He doesn't even remember it. You aren't a bag of bones. You are God's everlasting & ever-loved spirit child! God is your Father not your foe. I will never surrender to God because I am on His side & Christ has already won the war.
Monday, November 28, 2011
Surrender or Submission? Defeat or Victory?
Surrender
Surrender is not a term used in the New Testament. It is used in church circles usually referring to the biblical concept of submission or yielding. Using the word surrender, I believe, has a subtle impact on how we view God. The term surrender makes it out as though we are at war with God and we give up when He beats us down enough. But God is loving and in no way punishes His children (see 1 John 4:18). Scripture never uses the language of surrender of us in relation to God.
In some contexts the Greek word for "submit" is translated as "be subject" and may have the idea of being subordinate to God in a military fashion. Even there the idea of surrender does not fit because we are on God's side. He is for us, He is never against us. We are not at war with Him and we are not to surrender to Him as if we were.
Prominent Definitions of the English Word "Surrender"
acceptance of despair; the act of admitting defeat; to relinquish to the control or possession under threat, compulsion, or demand; to give (oneself) up, as or as if to an enemy
Submission
"Submit to God" -James 4:7
The Greek word translated "submit" in James 4:7 refers to "a voluntary attitude of cooperation." Cooperation is "working or acting together; agreeing." Biblical submission is a loving trust. It does not have the attitude of "because I have to.." or "since you're forcing me too.." Biblical submission says "I trust your desires are good and loving. I love you so I agree to work with you to fulfill your desires." This is how we are to obey God. Obedience is not merely an outward action in accordance with an instruction. Obedience is an inward trust based on God's love and guidance that results in outward action. There is nothing in the Christian life that does not involve God's love for you and your trust of Him.
The Christian does not need to "surrender daily" but to cooperate with what the Spirit of God communicates over the course of each day. Submission is a situational decision not a blanket declaration. You cannot submit your day to God. You can only submit as life rolls on throughout the day, anything else is pretending. Submission is relational cooperation done in the present tense. Submission is not tapping out because God twists your arm, it is tapping in, into the life, love, and relationship that God has given you with Himself. You cannot give your life to God. As a Christian God gave His life to you. He is your life (see Colossians 3:3-4). We are to simply walk with Jesus in newness of the new life He has given us. There is no promise to make or achievement to grasp just trust God and His love for you as you live in Him and with Him.
Surrender is not a term used in the New Testament. It is used in church circles usually referring to the biblical concept of submission or yielding. Using the word surrender, I believe, has a subtle impact on how we view God. The term surrender makes it out as though we are at war with God and we give up when He beats us down enough. But God is loving and in no way punishes His children (see 1 John 4:18). Scripture never uses the language of surrender of us in relation to God.
In some contexts the Greek word for "submit" is translated as "be subject" and may have the idea of being subordinate to God in a military fashion. Even there the idea of surrender does not fit because we are on God's side. He is for us, He is never against us. We are not at war with Him and we are not to surrender to Him as if we were.
Prominent Definitions of the English Word "Surrender"
acceptance of despair; the act of admitting defeat; to relinquish to the control or possession under threat, compulsion, or demand; to give (oneself) up, as or as if to an enemy
Submission
"Submit to God" -James 4:7
The Greek word translated "submit" in James 4:7 refers to "a voluntary attitude of cooperation." Cooperation is "working or acting together; agreeing." Biblical submission is a loving trust. It does not have the attitude of "because I have to.." or "since you're forcing me too.." Biblical submission says "I trust your desires are good and loving. I love you so I agree to work with you to fulfill your desires." This is how we are to obey God. Obedience is not merely an outward action in accordance with an instruction. Obedience is an inward trust based on God's love and guidance that results in outward action. There is nothing in the Christian life that does not involve God's love for you and your trust of Him.
The Christian does not need to "surrender daily" but to cooperate with what the Spirit of God communicates over the course of each day. Submission is a situational decision not a blanket declaration. You cannot submit your day to God. You can only submit as life rolls on throughout the day, anything else is pretending. Submission is relational cooperation done in the present tense. Submission is not tapping out because God twists your arm, it is tapping in, into the life, love, and relationship that God has given you with Himself. You cannot give your life to God. As a Christian God gave His life to you. He is your life (see Colossians 3:3-4). We are to simply walk with Jesus in newness of the new life He has given us. There is no promise to make or achievement to grasp just trust God and His love for you as you live in Him and with Him.
See Also: Why I Will Never Surrender to God
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