Surrender and other S-words that Point to Grace

image by Arno Senoner on Unsplash

In the story of Scripture, God repeats a certain song to his select seed.

For submission to his sacred, life-giving decrees, he promises blessing.

For stubborn sedition, separation.

As his children sojourned beneath his sanctifying hand, they chose to savor sinful practices that served their selfish desires, supposing these would bring satisfaction.

Stiff-necked and scornful, this society suffered centuries of sorrows, scandals, and struggles.

Though there were seasons of drawing near as they sought God’s safety in the face of their enemies, they surrounded their hearts with idols, became ensnared by false gods.

This stark sin of denial disguised in silver separated them from their supernatural King, and sadly, he gave them over to the stain of their salacity.

Are we not similar to this select society? Can we see ourselves in the stubbornness of the Israelites, of all sapiens? Swept away by all that sparkles, in the name of self, of safety, of our own strength?

Still—despite stiff necks, scorn, and sins like scarlet, a Savior was sent! A secret stable birth heralded by supernatural songs from the sky, Jesus was born: to serve, to sacrifice, to save.

Selflessly, he faced the scourging, the snarls, the shame; he suffered to sanctify, surrendering his superiority to offer sure salvation; his spectacular resurrection secures our eternity.

The scope of this sweeping sacrifice goes beyond all common sense, yet it has been sustained in history as a solid truth.  

The subject now is one of surrender.

We may struggle to see how this story serves us today, with seemingly endless sustenance offered as we scroll through stunning, startling, surrogate pleasures.

But sit in a moment of silence; sequester your heart in a secluded space for a second.

Are you satisfied?

What in your life sustains? What sings to your soul in sadness? Where do you find a consoling smile, a soothing comfort? Can socially scrolling in isolation ever satisfy? Can endlessly striving to serve an insatiable self ever save us?

We are insufficient in ourselves to stand up to our sin, to remove our stains and sorrows.

Surrender to the Son—the one who set each star in the sky, the one who sacrificed his life for ours, who by his scars secures our salvation—and he will be your eternal sufficiency.

Surrender to the Son who is the Sovereign King, to whom you can relinquish all struggle, all secrets, all sadness. Come, surrender to his grace, seek and find his face, be set apart as his.

Succumb to the Holy Spirit, receive his sacred, steadfast love, and step into the story God has been singing since the start—a story where surrender is not slavery, but freedom—and the sweetest, safest strength you’ll ever know.

Salvation belongs to the LORD;

your blessing be on your people!

~Selah~

Psalm 3:8