What life could be more blessed than one that fully submits to God’s will? The Christian life is a movement toward a complete penetration and flow of God’s will throughout the core of our being. We are like a log in the fire of God who burns away the impurities until his will permeates every part of us and we are glowing with the fire and light of God.
Jesus used the violent image of the Roman executioner’s cross when he described our submission to God’s will: “Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it” (Matt. 10:38-39, NIV). There must be death to our ways and like Jesus’ death, this death is painful and sometimes dark and lonely.
Johannes Tauler (c.1300-1361), taught that one should pray:
“Not my will, Lord, but Yours I shall accept; and should you will that I have nothing, I will surrender for the sake of your will.” To think in such a way, and to renounce self-will with such disposition, is to possess and receive more than could ever have been gained by having one’s own way.[1]
Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) described the change in our lives when we fully surrender to God’s will:
From the moment that you wish nothing more according to your own judgment and that you wish everything which God wishes without reserve, you will have no longer so many uneasy returns and reflections to make over what concerns you. You will have nothing to hide, nothing to manage. Up to that point, you will be troubled, changing in your views and your tastes, easily discontented with others, ill content with your own self, full of reserve and distrust. Your good mind until it has become humble and simple, will only torment you. Your devotion, although sincere, will give you less support and less comfort than the reproaches within. If, on the contrary, you abandon your heart to God, you will be serene, and full of the joy of the Holy Spirit.”[2]
Consider those areas of your life that are not fully surrendered to God, or areas that could be more completely surrendered. Can you perceive the benefits of fully surrender? What are the barriers in your life? Take time to pray and let your heart let go of the old or immature ways and let God’s will capture that part of your heart.
[1] Tauler, Sermons, sermon 19. Luther loved Tauler and for good reason.
[2] Francis Fenelon, Christian Perfection, trans. Mildred Stillman (Minneapolis: Bethany Fellowship, 1975), 90-91. We highly recommend this book to all. Fenelon had an unusual gift for penetrating hearts with words.
