In order to be on fire for God, to live the radical life He wants us to live we have to first surrender to Him. What keeps us from doing this? Pride.
I'm often a prideful person unwilling to surrender to Him. God is continually humbling me and reminding me that my pride and arrogance is getting in the way of seeing His glory and of being the tool He wants me to be. I can't be radical for God if I don't surrender to God.
As you are probably know well, the basics to Christian living is not believing in the existence of God. Belief and faith are two completely different things. I believe that George Washington and Napoleon existed but I have no faith or trust in them.
However, with faith comes obedience and obedience consists of submission and willingness.
It's completely the opposite of what we are all taught, what the world tells us, what our friends tell us, and what common sense tells us. The world is
rebellious and Christians today are more interested in fitting into the mold of the world rather than the mold that God has for us. "Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay in the
potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. Jeremiah 18:6 We need to rebel against the world, a world which
is upside down. We need to be out there taking the Gospel of Christ, speaking in boldness, proclaiming on the streets the good news that is our salvation. We
need to proclaim the power of the cross and be a light up on the hill. You are the light of the world. A city set on a
hill cannot be hidden Matthew 5:14
Too often we are too stuck in our pride to do this. We know better than God. Oh we may not come out and openly challenge God but we still grumble on the
inside. There were many times that I had the audacity to disagree with God. Each of those times, I thought I was in the right. Often times the only way to get
through to us in our stubbornness is to deal with us harshly. Look at the people of Israel, they were a stiff necked people and God had to punish them for
hundreds of years at a time! Yet they did not listen or incline their ears, but stiffened their necks in order not to
listen or take correction. Jeremiah 17:23
So I don't always know why I'm in the position I'm in but God placed me where I am for a reason. I need to learn at those difficult times to surrender to God and to submit to His will.
Do you spend more time arguing with and fighting God than you do spending time doing what He wants you to do? Are you letting your pride get in your way of submitting to His will? Are you being completely ineffectual for Him? Have you been sidelined by your own pride?
Until you surrender to Him you will never be the radical person God wants you to be. You will never be more than lukewarm only to be spat out by Him.
Do yourself a favor, pray about it, ask God to help you surrender to Him and to live in His will. Ask Him to mold you in His image and to refuse the image of the world. We are too comfortable in our lives today; sometimes we need to be made uncomfortable.
Surrender to God and go be God's people for God's glory.
