Surrendered EvangelismНамуна

All-In Reciprocity

Jesus surrendered His life for us. And we are inspired to do the same for Him. Here’s how Paul words it in Ephesians 5:2 (TPT): “And continue to walk surrendered to the extravagant love of Christ, for He surrendered His life as a sacrifice for us. His great love for us was pleasing to God, like an aroma of adoration—a sweet healing fragrance.”

This is not some despotic dictator wagging his finger at us and shame-forcing us to submit. ‘His great love for us’, ‘like an aroma of adoration- a sweet healing fragrance’ manifested as the surrender of His life. How beautiful! And our surrender? No ball and chain, but a surrender to ‘the extravagant love of Christ’. Amazing.

For too many people, this sounds unrealistic. After all, there are many who have tried it out, but never caught a whiff of any ‘aroma of adoration’, never a scent of ‘sweet healing fragrance.’ And we think we know why. 

Here’s Luke 9:23 (TPT): “Jesus said to all of His followers, “If you truly desire to be My disciple, you must disown your life completely, embrace My ‘cross’ as your own, and surrender to My ways.”

Note the word ‘completely’, here. 

And, Luke 14:33 (TPT): “Likewise, unless you surrender all to Me, giving up all you possess, you cannot be one of My disciples.”

Note the word ‘all’. 

This is an ‘all-in’ reciprocity, here. There is no fudging allowed on our end. If we aren’t fully surrendered, disowning our ‘life completely’, ‘surrender(ing) all’, then the conditions, then we won’t experience ‘the extravagant love of Christ’ in all of its manifestations. 

So, as we evangelize people, let’s not settle with winning arguments for which we’re prepared and they aren’t. Let’s not rest after coaxing a half-hearted, ‘repeat-after-me’ prayer from a brow-beaten victim of evangelistic initiatives. Let’s not aim at merely winning intellectual assent to the truths we’ve shared. Let’s press in all the way to the people with whom we’re conversing inhaling the ‘aroma of adoration’. 

How?

Hebrews 12:28 (TPT): Since we are receiving our rights to an unshakeable kingdom we should be extremely thankful and offer God the purest worship that delights His heart as we lay down our lives in absolute surrender, filled with awe.