Tag: 2 Corinthians 1:20

Surrender, Submission, Adoration

Dr. J.D. Wilkins1 Comment

I sat here today reviewing my week of writing.  All of these posts remind me that I’m perhaps more like the prophet Jeremiah than Jerry Seinfeld whose comedy is based in truth but makes us all laugh our heads off at it anyway.

I wanted to take a lighter look at our current circumstances and found this entertaining meme of FaceBook.

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It is important to be able to keep laughing, find the humor in our circumstances, and let off some of that pent up depression.

How do we do that?

Surrender indicates an end to the resistance of an enemy or opponent, and coming under the enemy or opponent’s authority.  When panic and paranoia result in fear the enemy of God, who is our enemy, gains authority over us.  This enemy doesn’t stop until the fear has totally ruined a life, resulting minimally in a debilitated human existence or death.  Depending on which translation of the Bible you read, the command “Fear not!” or “Do not be afraid!” is found between 105 to 365 times.  Some will see the discrepancy of these numbers to negate the basic message.  However, if God repeated it only a few times, say 5 times in the whole of Scripture, would it still not be God’s Authoritative  voice commanding  His children to not be afraid?  So when we are afraid, are we not fighting against God’s providential care and concern?  Listening to God’s enemy who wants us to be afraid, means we are surrendering to that fear infused whispering from the father of lies himself.

God’s word says:

Psalm 23:4 –
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

Submission is often used as a synonym for surrender.  Usually this is derived from context, as when a person might be “forced into submission.”  However, it seems to me that surrender is about a person thinking they have no other choice; while submission is almost all about choice.  When a persons submits, rather than continuing to resist the enemy’s whispering temptation to fear, they simply quit struggling, they give up.  In becoming so passive about God’s command, they may not be afraid, but they are also not pursuing the fight to stay alert, and listen to God’s sole authoritative word for direction.

God’s word says:

James 4:7
Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

What of “Adoration” then?

The definition of this action is perhaps best found in its synonyms:  love, devotion, care, affection, admiration, worship, glorify, praise, extol, laud, magnify, etc.

When we read the scriptures from the beginning to the end, the whole Bible is filled with the wonderful promises of a Creator who loves human beings as His highest creation.  We know from the Creator’s revealed word, that He only wants the best for us.  We also discover in these same Scriptures how God’s enemy seeks to destroy us, simply because we are God’s highest creation.  All the promises of God are based in the simplicity of saying “yes” to God’s voice of authority, and saying “no” to the enemy’s temptations or attacks to keep us from glorifying God.

So consider this word from God, spoken through the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 1:20
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him (JESUS) they are yes; therefore also though Him (JESUS) is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

If God says He will act in a certain way, the promise of this action is “YES” in Jesus.  When a person steps over the line of faith into saving faith provided in Jesus, then all of God’s promises are enacted and empowered through His Son – Jesus.  God says He alone has the power to save, to create, to uphold, to heal, to direct, and to sustain us.

  • God does not force us into surrender.
  • God does not belittle us into submission.
  • God gives us choice to serve Him in completely devoted adoration.

In choosing to serve God alone, to worship God alone, to listen to God’s authoritative voice as the sole authority for life, in our crazy mixed up world, we hear “Yes” in the loving voice of our Savior.

1 Peter 5:6-7
Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.

Today, choose life.  Do not surrender to the father of lies and become fearful.  Do not surrender to the rantings on social media, or the talking heads breeding doom and gloom on the television.  Do not submit by becoming an impassive voice, thinking it is better just to quit resisting.

Today, choose life.  Choose to live a life of adoration for the ONE who can deliver us from this unseen enemy called COVID-19.

Live in humility before the Creator of all things… casting all your worries and fears on Jesus … because “He cares for YOU!”

Loving God doesn’t have to mean giving up a sense of humor either.

Choose life.  Find something to laugh at today.

Indefatigable

Dr. J.D. Wilkins1 Comment

Tenacious

eagle

 

It’s rather easy to spot this majestic bird, with its white head, brown body, and hooked yellow beak.  We know it as Haliaeetus leucocephalus, or the bald eagle, our national symbolic bird since 1782.  The average 7ft. wing span, and weighing an average of 7-15 lbs., this bird is one of the largest raptors in the world.  It feasts on fish, ducks, snakes, and turtles.  The eagle can fly up to 10,000 ft in the air.  It can soar for hours using the thermal currents, and can cruise around about 40 mph.  In this way, this bird of prey, seems, at least to a commoner like myself, indefatigable.

What you observe in the eagle’s flight is a great spiritual metaphor for the tenacious, tireless, determined and unwavering grace of God.  We humans can’t soar like this eagle.  We often wish we could. Yet God, who does not grow weary or tired, offers us something more than just human will, or human resolve, or human tenaciousness.  God, the Creator, pursues us relentlessly with indefatigable persistence, because He loves us.  The very idea of Jesus coming to be the Savior of mankind is wrapped up in the concept of wanting us to soar.

I’m not making this up.  Listen to God speak to His family through the ancient prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 40:26-31

Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.
Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me escapes the notice of my God?”
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired.  His understanding is inscrutable.
He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power.
Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.

Why would God make this fantastic promise?  Why would God reveal Himself as powerful enough to make us soar, then keep us locked and bound to planet earth?  What provision did God make to allow this promise to come true for us?  I’m glad you asked.

2 Corinthians 1:20
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him (Jesus) they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

If the God that Isaiah heard was never tired or weary, and the claims of Jesus to be God the Son are true…  then this ancient yet enduring promise is indefatigable… and it is always “YES!” in Jesus.

I want to fly… do you?!!

 

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