The best decision we will ever make in our lives is to surrender our will to the will of God in Jesus Christ. We accept Jesus as our Savior AND Lord. By faith we are buried with Christ in baptism and receive the saving grace of God in the blood of the Lamb. Life is no longer about what we want – it’s about pleasing the Lord. Paul writes, “…we have as our ambition…to be pleasing to Him” (II Corinthians 5:9). He also writes, “…walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects” (Colossians 1:10).
Isn’t it ironic that the most joy we experience is when, instead of living selfishly to please ourselves, we live selflessly to please the Lord Jesus Christ! It’s paradoxical. It’s also paradoxical that in order for us to win we have to surrender! Only God can come up with that kind of wisdom.
The opposite of selflessly surrendering our will to Jesus is to be self-willed. When we refuse to surrender to Jesus it’s because we want what we want when we want it. We don’t care what God’s will is – that would restrict us from getting our way. That kind of crazy thinking ignorantly believes that getting our way is the road that leads to happiness; however, it actually results in going over the emotional and spiritual cliff and crashing. Joy is a gift from the Holy Spirit as we surrender to Jesus as Lord (Galatians 5:22).
No one had more joy than Paul – especially in spite of his physical circumstances being horrific. Incredibly, Paul writes, “…we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you”. (II Corinthians 4:8-12). Right after that he writes “…we have as our ambition…to be pleasing to Him” (II Corinthians 5:9). Then he follows that with, “…but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things” (II Corinthians 6:4-10). Wow! Paul is submissive, surrendered, and selflessly living for Jesus; nevertheless, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in history with as much joy as him!
Read Mark 14:32-36 and observe the submissiveness of Jesus to do the Father’s will. Then listen to My Will by D C Talk. Follow that with a submissive day living for Jesus as Lord and enjoy your joy in the Spirit.
Mark 14:32-36
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”