The Surrendered (ThinkJump Episode 11 by Kim Gentes)
Thursday, August 23, 2007 at 11:59PM
Kim Gentes in Blog, Commitment, Devotional, Jesus, Love, Prayer, Spiritual Disciplines, Suffering, Teaching, Worship, brokenness, christianity, humility, offering, surrender, surrendered, the Cross, the Cross, worship

surrendered.jpgSin is, itself, a precipitous (though not primal) force that seeks to evade and invade the consciousness of men, looking for a friend amongst our cranial homes. And it finds many there- the ignorant, the arrogant, the guileful, the watchless, the strong, the successful, the well-known, the unknown. But rarely does it find friendship in the uncluttered minds of the surrendered.

The surrendered are those whose simplicity is mocked. The surrendered are those whose vulnerability is displayed not as a trophy, but in the reality of a very clear grasp of their own weaknesses. Weaknesses not bent from self-humility, false humility or acceptance of servitude to a destructive self-life. Rather, weaknesses forged in the honest self-awareness of their emptiness, and turned to a shameless dependency on Christ. The surrendered remain so because they have lived so many other lives only to have been left with dust in their hands. The surrendered are broken, but not crushed. The surrendered are not groveling, they are lifted up. The surrendered are not snuffed out, they are lit on fire.

The surrendered are not rushing to complain, they are thankful for the bread of today. The surrendered have lost hope in the promises of this world, but the Hope is rising in their hearts. The surrendered have embraced the cross without shunning its suffering. The surrendered are slaves to love, but freed from the choking allurement of pleasing themselves or others.

The surrendered are not balanced- they have given up hope of all else but love. They have given way to the hope that God is love, and that love alone will triumph to rescue them. They fall at the feet of love, Himself, when they recognize another act of selfishness rising up in them. The surrendered are the worshipers who deal quickly with their sin and thoughts at the moment of their betrayal. They are not perfect, they are simply- surrendered.

 

[Download /Listen to the Audio MP3 of this article by clicking on "The Surrendered" link below]

 

Article originally appeared on Kim Gentes - worship leader and writer (http://www.kimgentes.com/).
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