An all-out commitment to
Christ is the only sure path to becoming all that we can be in life.
It is a chance only fools can afford to lose.
Opportunities in life are of very little use if we neglect to take full
advantage of them. Hence, it is
stated that the important thing in life is not opportunities we have but the
ones we take full advantage of in the end (Colossians
2:6,7).
When we turn our lives over
to Christ to manage, we enter into an unbroken relationship meant to be intimate
and complete, a relationship that draws out of us bowed hearts and lives before
Him. He then opens up His heart to
welcome us. In fact, He opens up
all His divine fullness of life and love to us in fellowship with the ultimate
purpose of making us wholly one with Himself.
So there is a depth of life
in Him we cannot realize until we lay all on the altar.
It takes trusting, depending and truly letting go of ourselves upon His
person. Our achievements, religious
activities, our sense of self-worth, and other objects demanding our allegiance
will no longer be of any appeal to us. They
cease to be of any lasting value to us when we let go of ourselves.
So,
Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and
grace. (Helen H. Lemmel)
So we have a timely
reminder in John Flavel’s essay Christ Altogether Lovely that:
"The beauty and loveliness of all other things are fading and perishing;
but the loveliness of Christ is fresh for all eternity.
The sweetness of the best created thing is a fading flower, if not
before, yet at death it must fade away. Job
4:21: ‘Doth not their excellency which is in them, go away?’
Yes, yes, whether they are the natural excellencies of the body, acquired
endowments of the mind, lovely features, graceful qualities, or anything else we
find attractive, all these like pleasant flowers are withered, faded, and
destroyed by death. 'But Christ is still the same, yesterday, today, and
forever' (Hebrews
13:8).”
In reality we know that all
that God bestows on us needs time to become fully our own.
It must be held fast, assimilated and appropriated into our inmost being.
Without this, not even Christ’s giving can make it our own in full
experience and enjoyment. Therefore, an all-out commitment to Christ involves a
student’s heart, yielding ourselves to the training of Christ by submitting
all things to His will. Our whole
life is allowed to become one with His in a conscious walk.
It is not an act of pulling
one’s self up by one’s boot straps. It
is not about human will power and doing. Our
doing and working are but the fruit of Christ’s work in us (Ephesians
2:8-10). When our soul becomes
utterly passive, looking and resting on what Christ is doing, its energies are
stirred to their highest activity. We
work most effectively because we know that He works in us (Philippians
3:12). His mighty energies of
love reach out after us to have us and hold us, enabling all the strength of our
will to rise to abide in Him (Isaiah
26:12).
He does not ask us to abide
with Him but to abide in Him. He
saved us so that we can be all-out committed to His person.
In His hands we receive beauty, are made fruitful, rejoiced over (Isaiah
62:3-5; John
15:1-2,5). While we wait on Him
we become honored (Proverbs
27:18). We wait on Him out of
love for Him because He first loved us (I
Corinthians 2:9; Isaiah
64:4). This we demonstrate
through an all-out commitment to His person, surrendered life, a humble and
contrite spirit, trembling at the Word (Isaiah
66:2).
Israel’s history and her
relationship with God the Father were failed all-out-commitment to Him.
This was amply demonstrated by her leadership that did not tremble at His
Word. Consequently, the nation and
her leadership were only willing to abide with Him as subjects not in Him as His
people. As His subjects they had
the option to be loyal or disloyal at will.
The classic example in King Jehoiakim who was disloyal to God and
did not tremble at His Word. He
brought disaster to the nation (Jeremiah
26:21; 36:20-26).
On the other hand, his father, King Josiah, was all-out-committed to God
and trembled at His word (II
Kings 22:19-20; II
Chronicles 34:31-33). He became
everything Israel had dreamed of a king and brought revival to the land.
All-out commitment is what
J. W. Van DeVenter had in mind when he wrote:
All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give.
I would ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.
I surrender all. I surrender all.
All to thee my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
As believers the
opportunity to be all we can be is before us.
Seize the moment by an all-out commitment to the person of Christ.
Then from the heart we can sing these lyrics:
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to thee.
Fill me with thy love and power. Let
thy blessing fall on me.
Surrender all and prove His goodness.
Dr. T. Cyprian Kia
Feb. 26, 2002
Highland Park, CA