While we were in India, the son of the pastor who started the orphanages asked us what is the difference between being a committed and a surrendered Christian. This question got me thinking...
If you are a committed Christian, you commit to going to church one a week, giving your tenth, reading your Bible daily etc. Now don't get me wrong, these are really good things to do and very important, but then what about the surrendered part?
If we are surrendered Christians we give all that we have to the Lord. In other words we surrender all. It may sound simple enough to say "I am a surrendered Christian" but are we truly? Are we surrendered in our finances? Do we give only a tenth or will we gladly give 30% if the Lord asks? Is our lives surrendered to God's plan or do we do what we want? Are we surrendered in the movies we watch, the music we listen (or copied which is stealing by the way!!!) and the magazines we read? Do they bring glory to God or are they sin in the eyes of the Lord?
It may sound a bit crazy, but if we are not a 110% for the Lord then where are we? Are we then going to compromise in some areas and give other areas to the Lord? Did Jesus not say in 1 Peter 1:16 "Be holy, for I am holy?" There is no time for the Christians to look and smell like the world anymore. We have to be the radical and set a new standard for living a blameless and pure life before the Lord. We have to hate what is wrong and love what is good.
Samuel Thomas: "You can only be truly committed if you are surrendered."
I just want to leave you with this: It hurts so much more when the Lord has to come and pry open our hand to take what already belongs to Him than if we just surrendered!
Marcel