Day 90

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It’s easy to content ourselves with belief.

Here’s what I mean. We can, without even realizing it, develop a personal faith checklist, and when all the boxes are checked, we decide we’re covered on the faith stuff. It might look something like this:

And let me be so clear: those are all good things. It’s just that none of those things on their own has the power to save us from our sin.

Here’s why:

There’s a big difference between a life that acknowledges God and a life that’s surrendered to Him.

Think about it in the context of everyday life. When you acknowledge someone, you basically assent to his or her existence. Your acknowledgment essentially means Yes, you are here, and I see you.

Surrender, however, is a whole different deal. Acknowledgment is certainly the first part of it, but there’s a much deeper piece—and peace (see what I did there?)—because surrender comes with the recognition that you are unable to save yourself. In the context of faith, surrender is an admission of the sovereignty of a greater authority. An admission of your dependence on a greater power. And—this is big—it’s an admission that you’re willing to place yourself under that authority and power because you know it is absolutely the best, most loving place you could possibly be.

Surrender is what we see in the first couple of bars of an old hymn: “Take my life, and let it be, consecrated, Lord, for Thee.”

Simply acknowledging God will not save us, my friends.

James 2:19 addresses the human tendency to believe and then go no further in our relationship with the Lord. James wrote, “You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder!” It’s fine and well and good to believe that there is one God, but so do demons. If we stop at just belief or acknowledgment, then we’re missing the saving grace that accompanies surrender to Jesus.

Look at Matthew Henry’s take:

But to . . . take up a good opinion of thyself, or of thy state towards God, merely on account of thy believing in him, this will render thee miserable. . . . To rehearse that article of our creed, therefore, I believe in God the Father Almighty, will not distinguish us from devils at last, unless we now give up ourselves to God as the gospel directs, and love him, and delight ourselves in him, and serve him.5

Don’t settle for just acknowledging God. There is such joy that comes from trusting Him for salvation, living for Him, loving Him, and following wherever He leads.

Surrender to the One who is your all in all.

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1. Have you ever felt content to go through the motions with your faith? Maybe assumed that you and God were good just because you believe He exists? Or have you seen that assumption play out with a close friend or family member?

2. What does it mean to live a surrendered life?

3. Why is it sometimes easier to acknowledge God and stop there? Why is surrender so difficult for us at times?

4. Look up the lyrics to the hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be,” and read through them. Write down the verse that most resonates with you.

Today’s Prayer

5. “Commentary on James 2 by Matthew Henry,” Blue Letter Bible, accessed March 10, 2017, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Jam/Jam_002.cfm?a=1148019.