Available and Surrendered

 Are you available to God? Are you surrendered to Him? We live in a culture of compartmentalized Christianity. People will focus on God for corporate worship gatherings and Bible studies. During the work week they put God on the back burner prioritizing other things. It is a rare thing to see people available to God and surrendered to Him. 

To be available means to be ready for immediate use. More specifically for our purpose to be ready for immediate use to God. Somewhere there are hurting lonely people. I made a pastoral visit today to a widower. He told me after his caretaker leaves around noon, that he stares at the same four walls. He reads until he falls asleep or gets bored with reading. He watches a little television. He spends the majority of his life alone with his aging dog. He has outlived many people at age 95. Who is available to stop by for a visit to people like him? Who is available to care enough to listen? Who is ready to be put into service for those others have forgotten. Who is available to help the needy? Who is available to teach little children the stories of Jesus? Who is ready for immediate use to work around your church? Who is ready for immediate use to love the unlovable? These are needed and many other places to minister? 

Who is surrendered? Surrendered means to give up control. For this context it means giving up control of our lives for Jesus to have full control. It is raising the white flag as we yield to Him. People like control. They want to control their own lives. A true Christian has been bought with the blood of Jesus and is no longer his or her own. I Corinthians 6:20 We need to yield to His will over our own. This is a hard fight for many people. They want to be in control. They do not want to submit to anyone. In light of what Jesus did for us on the cross, surrender is the only viable option. We need to adopt the attitude of Romans 12:1 where we lay our lives down on the altar of God. Many a person has rebelled against God. They have resisted surrender with all their hearts. This usually does not end well for the rebellious. Tragically it could end in eternal damnation if a person rebels against God to their dying day without a saving relationship with Jesus. 

Hebrews 11:7-40 gives a list of people who lived available and surrendered. Their exploits are summarized. This is a kind of Hall of Fame for people of faith. What might God do through us if we did the same? What kind of legacy of faith could we leave behind? Nobody will ever know if we choose the route of unavailability and resistance. God is looking for available people not just abled people. He is looking for surrendered people who give up control of their lives. The results are left up to God what He chooses to do with our availability and surrender. I bet it will be for His glory.