This world is a battleground. Political races to fight for a spot in office. Athletic teams putting their blood, sweat, and tears into a 60-minute game. Students struggling to get that A in class. All the tussle just so we can say “I’m the best and nobody can say otherwise.”
Not until someone else takes office or a team beats you. There’s always someone next in line to get that top spot. From day one, the only thing we focus on is us. How can I be the best? When will it be my turn? What about me?
This battleground we find ourselves in is always telling us that if we work hard enough we’ll get what we strive for. More money, more fame, the job we always wanted. Then once we gain those things, then we can call ourselves the best.
But the truth is it’s not about you. The truth is we are all a speck of dust settled on a cosmic beach.
That doesn’t mean you’re an accident. That means you are even more important than you realize. Because that cosmic beach was created by a Creator and that same Creator made you very uniquely.
When we reach the age where we can make moral decisions, we have a choice. Now there are a lot of choices made once we reach that age of moral freedom. There are two sides that you can decide on. The side of worldly pleasure. Or the side of Christ.
We get the choice.
The world promises a lot of stuff that eventually fades. However, in Jeremiah 29:13, God promises that when we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him.
In war, a white flag represents surrender. It implies that all rights are being given up to the conqueror. Weapons are laid down, the opposing army surrenders, and the winners take control from then on.
Surrendering to God works the same way. God has a plan for our lives and surrendering to Him means we set our own plans aside and eagerly seek His. The good news is that God’s plan is always in our best interest and better than anything we can come up with.Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.”There are different levels of surrender. The first is surrendering to give up our own attempt to earn God’s favor and instead upon the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf. This is when a person’s eternal destination changes from death to life. When we accept that we cannot do it by ourselves and believe that God came down into human form to take on a cross we deserve, we become a child of God.Another level of surrender is a moment in an already Christian’s life that brings deeper closeness with God and greater power in serving others. The more areas of our lives we surrender to God, the more room there is for filling it up with the Holy Spirit.The more we surrender to God, the more our old self-worshiping nature is replaced with one that resembles Christ as said in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has passed away, behold the new has come.”There is a song that I listen every so often. It is called Abandoned by Benjamin William Hastings. The bridge of the song has a line that says, “The failures I hide, the victories I don’t. The battles I fight, each crown that I hoard. Consider it Yours, Lord.”The pursuit of happiness is a never-ending battle. However, waving the white flag and surrendering to God ends that battle. The best part is the aftermath of the battle isn’t bloody or full of grief. But it is a celebration that a son or daughter has had their name written down in the book of life.The reward isn’t the money, or the cars, or the greatest things this world can give. Jesus is the reward, and the Bible says that we will reap ultimate rewards in Heaven.Luke 6:23, “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their prophets used to treat the prophets.”