Surrender

I have been debating as to whether I should write about this...I don't want to offend but I also don't want to speak cryptically. I'm going to attempt to write this in as few words as possible, a difficult feat for me considering when it comes to typing, I'm rather long winded. But here it goes.

I have felt moved recently to write about the area of surrender. In Christian churches, we sing a lot of songs with lyrics like, "I surrender all" and "I'm laying down my rights, I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life." We talk about pursuing Christ with a child like faith. We ask God to 'open the eyes of our hearts' so that we can see Him...so that we can know Him and in turn, make Him known.
I think we often use this dialogue in referring to surrendering our right to sin, or our right to walk away from God. We run full speed into the open arms of our Father and we declare, "Take all of me."
But I wonder how many of us are willing to surrender our religion to God? How many of us are willing to surrender our doctrines? How many of us have been taught a 'christian' way of living that isn't very Christ-like at all but cling to it with white knuckles? How many of us would be willing to surrender everything we thought we knew about God so that we could really know Him? How many of us are willing to embrace a faith that is real and both public and personal, that isn't the rules, laws or soap boxes of our parent's, our political affiliation's or our grand pappy so and so's?...How many of us are brave enough to admit, we don't have it all figured out and we're works in progress? How many of us are willing to surrender our spiritual arrogance?

Rob Bell uses the term 'Brickology' to describe the way some people believe. He describes their beliefs and doctrines as 'bricks' that are carefully layered to create a wall of overall belief...and he describes what happens when someone questions one of their bricks...when someone challenges the believer about a part of their religion...and he describes that people with brickology-type faith respond angrily and often stereotypically like that of their brickology friends...how they aren't able to open their minds and further explore their belief system because if one brick needs to come out, the whole wall will fall down and they'll have nothing left. Such a person spends the majority of their time, defensively fighting off differing opinions instead of allowing themselves to go deeper...learning why it is they believe what they believe instead of just knowing they believe it...and they mistake their personal discomfort for spiritual discernment.

After hearing this section of his book on tape (Velvet Elvis), it completely changed my way of thinking. I had to repent of my spiritual arrogance...the part of me that thought I had it all figured out...when I haven't even scratched the surface...the part of me that assumed MY interpretation of the bible was the only right way. Sure, there are blacks and whites in scripture. The ten commandments for example are pretty straight forward. But the truth is, I've met many people, Christians, born again believers, who stand on the opposing side of myself on many issues, biblical issues, yet we're both of the mindset that we have it right according to scripture.

For example, (and please, don't allow this example to lead to a barrage of argumentative comments...it's just an example) I believe that capital punishment is sinful. I believe that no human being has the right to take a life. I believe that mercy and grace can cover the worst of us and that no man or woman, regardless of how long they went to school or how many letters are behind their name, has the right to determine who is 'good' enough to live and die. Now, if someone murdered or sexually assaulted Caden, would I want to kill them with my bare hands? Heck, yes! And guess what? I would be justified in doing so...I would be justified in my anger. But I surrender my right to do that...I surrender my right to act on emotion, I surrender my right to take justice in my own hands, I surrender my right to be destroyed by anger and bitterness and vengeance. Vengeance is the Lord's and I believe God's Word points to that. But, plenty of Christian people, deep, moral, beautiful Christian people (particularly in this part of the world) feel the opposite and they too believe that scripture points in their direction.
So who's right? Who's wrong? Who's misinterpreting? Who's brick needs to come out? Who's wall is going to fall down?

No one's should...because our beliefs about the things of God shouldn't become our god. If Jesus Himself appeared before me and said, "Kathy, you've got the capital punishment thing wrong." Would I be in a place of surrender, where I would deny myself to follow His teachings? Or would my entire faith fall down around me because I had misunderstood one thing about Jesus?

Sometimes, surrender means surrendering our personal view of who God is or who we think He 'should' be so that we can really know who He is. I've met a lot of non-Christians who want nothing to do with the faith because of none other than us...and that terrifies me...to know that arrogant and uneducated Christians keep people from wanting to know God.
I pray, fervently, that I will not be one of those people. I surrender my right to be one of those people.

Sometimes, it is our religion, our doctrine, our 'truths', not necessarily our sin, that keeps us from fully knowing Him and making Him known.

Hope this makes sense...