Melissa’s post on my last entry set me up perfect for where I wanted to go on this one. So thanks Melissa. Her post said:
“The moment one says the “sinners prayer” may not determine ones salvation, but I wouldn’t underestimate the significance of the first time a person surrenders their life to Christ either.
Using your analogy. The first step of learning a language is deciding to learn it, is it not? Upon making that decision you may know nothing about the language, but you’re committing to learn it. Lots of people break such commitments, but some make good on their word. I just think we all come to a point in our life where we need to decide and that decision has some merit. Sometimes that decision is what motivates us through times we would rather give up.
I’m not from a Christian home – and I suppose I have a moment where I decided to commit to Christ (I never said any specific prayer… but I distinctly remember making a decision).”
First I thought that this was an excellent comment, expanding on the analogy well. There are times all through the gospels where Jesus said ‘follow me’ and they got up and followed him. Obviously that moment was a marker in their lives. So I guess the question is how do we not allow this marker to take up all of our focus and we focus more on the process getting to and moving on from that marker? However, this post is taking a different turn than the subject all together. It was just the wording that she used that I wanted to point something out about.
My CRC friends may appreciate this post a bit more than my Pentecostal ones. I was in a pastors meeting a few weeks ago and we were all just talking and one pastor mentioned something that he heard on the radio. He was noting the difference between commitment and surrender. If you notice in Melissa’s comment she said commitment a lot. In fact, I say commitment a lot when I’m referring to salvation. As a speaker, one of my biggest motivations would be to try and help youth make solid commitments that will last.
Commitment puts a lot of emphasis on us. Commitment means that we are holding on. It means that it depends on us to hold our end of the bargain. Surrender on the other hand means something different. Surrender means that we are letting go. Surrender means that all trust and expectation of anything working out is dependant on solely what is being surrendered to. I think that following Christ has much more to do with surrender than it does commitment. Don’t get me wrong, I think that there is much value and wisdom in us making commitments. However, really we are not committed. Only through Christ’s strength anyway can we have any sort of commitment to the cause.
Constantly all through the NT we are told of the cost of following Christ. It doesn’t cost something because we have to hold on to Christ with all of our might. It costs something because we have to let everything go for the sake of following him. Surrender needs to come before commitment. Before we commit to Christ, we need to surrender everything we are holding on to let our grips loose to be able to hold on to him anyway.
Ahhh-greed. (that is, AGREED, with emphasis on the “a”…not like, ahh…greed, implying that i am fond of being greedy. just to clarify.)
Anyways-
I agree with Andrew that, as far as the question of, “how do we not allow this marker to take up all of our focus and we focus more on the process getting to and moving on from that marker?”, is concerned completely has to do with shifting the focus from “me” to CHRIST.
Funny enough I spoke on this at a men’s rehab center in Trinidad just recently. Well, the same thing along the lines with what Andrew was saying, I also would look inward, always asking “what can i do to be a better Christian?” etc. It wasn’t until I shifted my FOCUS from myself and my sin (or in this case, questioning your own salvation) to Christ that I was actually able to GROW in my relationship with Him and through that become more and more assured of not only my salvation but also become more and more assured of just WHERE my focus should be; that is, not on myself, but on Jesus!
Also, Nathan I really agree about surrendering. It’s interesting because I had been talking with a friend just the other day about how it’s all about a decision and commitment with Christ…or at least how a lot of things are about commitment and following through…and they ARE, yet it is so important not to forget the ultimate importance of SURRENDER. Man, I think that is what often times gets us into the most trouble…forgetting that the core part of being a follower of Christ is surrendering to Him, not perfectly mimicking Him. Surrendering our desires, our cares, our thoughts, our actions, our expectations, our ALL. It’s heard and said all the time, that we need to die to ourselves as Christians; i think we easily become numb to the idea. BUT IT IS SO IMPORTANT! HOLY COW.
When we surrender our rights, the Holy Spirit gets to move and not only is God able to be glorified, but our faith, our relationship with Him is strengthened and we are ACTUALLY ABLE TO GROW!
So often i think we look at Christ as the model to live up to or mimic ( i mean, we ARE supposed to look to Him and His life as a guide on how to live our own) BUT, not BEFORE surrendering to Him, not before being totally broken and authentic and HONEST with Him with WHERE we are actually AT. I hope this is making some sense, but what i mean to say is that, the only way to BE a man or a woman of God is by first admitting that without Christ you feel hopeless to the temptation of being a little boy or girl of the world. You HAVE to be HONEST with God about where you are really at, or He has nothin’ to work with.
HAHA..ok so i read over part of that and i realize that it might sound silly, but hopefully, despite the fact that it is 4am, I pray it makes some sense. It’s just what I’ve been learning the past month.
Straight from the horse’s mouth.
So now that i’ve rambled on about something that you’ve all heard before and it’s definitely 4am…i think i’ll go to sleep.
Michelle
(K….)
i love talking about Jesus…
To maybe take a stab at the question you ask near the beginning (“So I guess the question is how do we not allow this marker to take up all of our focus and we focus more on the process getting to and moving on from that marker?”): I have a lot of personal history with this question. Throughout my walk I’ve always had an introspective bent on my faith (always looking in to see how good I was, whether I was really saved, etc. etc.). A while ago I finally was able to make progress in getting out of this kind of thinking when I was reminded that I was looking at the wrong thing altogether.
Perhaps the solution to getting our attention off that first moment is to get our eyes of ourselves altogether. Maybe we should be looking to Christ instead. Upward to the King on the throne, onward to the day He returns.
FWIW.