Why not rush?

No, not that kind of rush. Yes, I was a sorority girl, but this is a different kind of rush I'm talking about. Why not rush to the Cross? Why do we hesitate?

“Lord, I can’t do it anymore. I can’t do this on my own anymore, I give up. I don’t have all the answers, I don’t know what I should do, I don’t know what the best thing is anymore. But I know I want you to do it for me; I want you to figure it out; I want you to take control; I give it all to you, please take it, because I can’t do it.”

This was a prayer I have said to myself in times of my utmost brokenness. This is a prayer I’ve said when I admit that God is God, and I am not. I lay down my pride, and on my face in prayer and in tears, I lay it down.

The last few days I’ve been meditating on so many things from sharing Christ, to global missions, finances, what it means to be wise counsel, what is joy, true wisdom, what direction is God taking me. Most of all, the issue of surrender has come up as a topic that permeates into the above mentioned topics. Surrender is above all of these topics, as I believe surrender comes first – then everything else. What does it mean to truly surrender?

For me, I can tell you surrender is giving up everything for Jesus Christ. EVERYTHING. And not just material stuff. Surrender is admitting that I can’t do it on my own anymore, that I need a Savior. How arrogant are we to think we can do anything without a Savior? Are we really that prideful to believe any credit or glory goes to us?

In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. – Luke 14:33, NIV

What does that scripture mean to you? The above biblical text is what Jesus said. Did you catch that? The above scripture is what JESUS said. Jesus said if you do not give up everything, you cannot be HIS disciple. Everything. I’ve been really praying and thinking about that the last few days. I’ve been thinking back on the days when I was living comfortably in name brand designer clothes slinging around champagne in the back of expensive convertible Jaguars driven by men who own private jets. I can be totally honest, I definitely was not thinking about that bible verse back then, but I sure claimed to be a disciple of Christ. Wow, was I wrong, or what?

Are you willing to give up everything to be Jesus’s disciple? Think about that for a moment. As I look around my room right now, I have a closet full of clothes, a comfortable queen size bed to sleep on, a TV with a DVD player, an iPhone nearby, clean water to drink, and a swimming pool I can see outside my window. Is fashion really an issue in the kingdom of Christ?


"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? – Matthew 6:25, NIV

The above text is also what Jesus said. Jesus, the Son of our Living God who we profess to follow and obey. Jesus said to us, DO NOT worry about our lives; DO NOT worry about what to eat or drink; DO NOT worry about our body; DO NOT worry about what to wear. Jesus said this. To me, this isn’t just an encouraging word, this is a command. Do you think Jesus had a fashion consultant or spent hours shopping at the mall in Nazareth? Do you think Jesus kept a log of what he ate and how many calories? Do you think Jesus stared at himself for hours in the mirror at the gym? Based on the above text of what He is saying, no He did not.

My point is, I want to be like Jesus Christ. I want to love like He loves. I want to trust God like He trusted our Father. And if you are like me, I know you want that too. Based on what God’s word says and what Jesus says, that takes complete and utter surrender to Jesus Christ. I have to admit that I struggle with too many things to mention and surrendering EVERYTHING to Him doesn’t always come easy. However, I’m learning to see myself the way God sees me more everyday. It is a daily surrender – of not just trying to take control, but also surrendering my money, my time, and also surrendering everything I used to be – my old life, my old friends, my old favorite songs, my old favorite movies, my old memories, my old habits, my old definitions of “fun”. I have had to surrender idols in my life such as vanity, appearance, food, excessive working out and exercise, clothes, shopping, materialism, career, men, male attention, money, and the list could go on and on. Again, giving up anything isn’t easy, but when it is for Jesus Christ, I often ask myself, why am I not rushing to the Cross to give it to Him? I mean, I know what He has for me is so much better, I know that. So why do I hesitate? Why do I wallow and cry out to God because I want to hang on to everything old and have everything new at the same time? I can’t have both. I have a choice. I can believe what His word says, or I can let it pass by me like just words on a page in another book.

I ask you to please join me in this journey to surrendering everything to Christ. Let go. Stop carrying it around. You have to give up the old, to get the new. You have to give EVERYTHING to Him. I heard a quote once that said…

“If you lose all that you have, and you are left with only Jesus Christ, you still have everything.”

….I believe this to be true, and I want to live like it. I am praying this kind of faith for you, you who reads this. I have prayed for you before you even read this. Don’t let Satan stand in the way and feed you lies, drop the walls within you, drop your fear, drop your guilt, drop your shame, drop your oppression, drop your defenses, drop your desire to control – drop it. I’m working at this just as you are, and as a body in Christ, we can do this together.

In His Steps,
Kristina