I've done a great deal of thinking recently. Profitable thinking, I hope, the sort of thinking that leads to appropriate revisions of my world view.
It struck me the other day how brief the Bible really is. Of course, it's long in comparison to most books we read, but taken as a whole, humans have never been very literate creatures. The printing press is a fairly modern invention, after all, and our attention spans are shorter now than ever.
But just think of all the Bible -could- say. The Pharisees thought their list of regulations was appropriately detailed, but they didn't even scratch the surface. God's laws could run on to every single detailed aspect of our lives, filling tomes and tomes. The canon could continue to this day, periodically updated to reflect the complexity of modern life. The heresies that have emerged through the years could have been crushed by apostolic revelation, accompanied by the testifying signs and wonders, as in the years after Pentecost. We could have new epistles dealing with media, Christian music, and to what extent Christians are responsible for changing culture (or retreating from it), or protecting the environment, or engaging in politics, or hundreds of other relevant topics.
But the Bible does not deal with these topics. It gives us underlying principles to live by, but one of those seems to be that God did not intend His revelation to be used as life micro-management.
The Law, which we (misinterpreting Paul) tend to view as oppressive, is comparatively light. It does not dictate, except under special circumstances, how a man must spend his time, or his money, and seems actually directed towards enabling him to live peaceably and prosperously on his own land and manage his own affairs -with the exception that all he has, time, life, and possessions, must be seen as a gift from a God to whom he is ultimately and utterly responsible.
In that respect, the rest of Scripture is not so different.
Though we are called to make disciples of all nations, and to love the Lord and our neighbors to the utmost of our abilities, we do not receive commands like "spend a tithe of your days witnessing" or "let the Lord's day be a day of fasting". Subsets of the Church have, at various times, instituted these sorts of extra-Biblical regulations, and many Christians have labored under them. (Often to good effect. These rules may in fact be good and useful, but my point is that they are never specifically proscribed by Scriptural mandate)
However, we are commanded to be living sacrifices. It seems that we have sometimes totally misinterpreted this command. The command is not to "do", but to "be".
All that God demands of you is total and complete, utter surrender of yourself. Then you may do as you like, because what you like will be more and more consistent with the character of Jesus, who only did what He saw His Father doing.
All our doing and striving and toil to please God is fruitless without surrender. We are on the wrong side of the canyon which must be crossed, and cannot be uncrossed. And likewise, even our rest and relaxation and amusing of ourselves is pleasing to God once we have fully surrendered to Him.
But it seems we would do almost anything rather than totally surrender, even though upon accepting Christ we have effectively done this. Speaking of "the rabbi's yoke", He said: "my yoke is easy and my burden is light". He did not say: "my yoke is optional if you make the burden sufficiently heavy". If we are to follow Him, we must take His yoke. That was never an option.
In my own life, I have found that I increasingly try to define small spaces that are my own. Even tiny ones, where I say "Alright Lord, I will be available to you in 10 minutes, I really will, I promise." It seems that I want to take breaks, because I find His work tiring. But it's not really tiring. I love it, though it may physically and mentally tire me, usually I come away from ministry feeling satisfied and soul-refreshed. So what is it that I find tiring exactly? I believe it is the part of me that is still trying to hold out. That little piece of my spirit that wants to maintain a toe-hold on what the world would call "reality", and Paul would call "the world" or "the flesh".
When will I completely submit? What will it take? I don't even value anything I would seek to "retreat" from submission to accomplish. It's as if I feel compelled to maintain a few small "backup" areas in my life. As if I don't fully believe.
But I do believe. Every time I return to that argument, I look back on my life and see the results of my belief, and what He in whom I believe has accomplished. After at least a few years of ministry, I have seen things happen which cannot be explained any other way than God's existence (as the God revealed to us in Scripture) and blessed intervention into the realm of men.
So the question is not belief. But faith without works is dead. Yet I have works as well. I cannot boast as Paul did, but most would look at my life and say that I have served well up to this point.
So what remains? I believe my righteousness is as "filthy rags" before God. Those works are grateful service, not payment for grace.
Perhaps the dissonance I feel between fulling submitting to God is that there are things I know He could ask me to do that I would shy away from. Service is wonderful, but service on one's own terms is baseless. Whatever God is asking you to do, you must do it. We are sometimes quick to say "That would be out of God's character, God wouldn't be asking me to do that". Perhaps not. But so is human sacrifice. Perhaps, like Abraham, He is testing our obedience.
The fate of my soul is secure; the light deep within which I cannot myself ignite now radiates clearly. My business is now to make myself as transparent as possible so that the light will shine through. Submitting to God is the only way. Pursuing my own ends, however worthy, will only obscure that light. So I must die to self, so that I can live, and be an instrument of God's conveying of life to others. I would say that this is what I want. Is it really? It is, deep down, and also on the surface. But God is shifting the outward weakened priority to meet the inward reality.
There are so many distractions in life that slow this process. I myself am perhaps even more susceptible to them than most. But I recently came to realize that those distractions which are most effective in side-tracking me are merely false imitations of what God has already promised to give me. Let us ignore those and instead press on towards the true rewards which are in store for us, instead of reaching for the tantalizing versions of them we see around us.
Certainly, only through utter surrender can we press through and reach the place where God would have each of us dwell for this life.
-Joseph
