Surrender

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:19-20

I've screwed up. We all have, but sometimes I feel like I'm the biggest screw up in the world; not because I have done "worse" things than everyone else, but because I have tried so many times to fully surrender everything to God, only to find myself holding on to a piece of the world that I just don't want to let go of. It's so easy to want the things of this world, because those are the things with immediate gratification and that are pleasing to our corrupt hearts.

But in those times where I stop serving myself and genuinely seeking God, I begin to look beyond the surface and let me tell you what God reveals to me:

People who are broken,
                                     hurting,
                                                in need of love,
                                                                       insecure,
                                                                                    imprisoned,

And I am overwhelmed with a desire to help. But they don't need any part of me. Who am I? I am a self-centered, egotistical, broken man who genuinely only cares about what can help me. All that is good in me is the power of Christ through me. Full surrender to the Gospel is the only way any of us can help any of the suffering the people of the world experience.

It's not easy, trust me. Only by grace does God continually give me the desire to lift up my hands and allow God to pick me back up and keep going. I have gone off the path countless times, but God straightens them. God is so good. We are so weak, but He has the power to make us strong. It's incredible the difference a life devoted to Christ makes in our attitudes.

We experience joy
                            love
                                  acceptance
                                                   hope
                                                           peace
                                                                   
When I am living a life surrendered to Christ, I experience all the feeling I have when I eat breakfast for dinner (brinner), but in a lasting way. God is incredible. Surrender to Him and He will open Your eyes to the hurt people around you. It hurts to see it at first, but its so much better than living blind to the world around you. Don't show yourself to the world, but show them Christ. He is the Savior. We are just a vessel for His glory.
                                                

Being a Hero to a Child

Spiderman is the best superhero of all time. He has the strength and powers of a spider! You can't argue how awesome he is. I always admired Spiderman because of the powers he had and I always wished I could have them. Yet, as much as I always wanted to be Spiderman and have his awesome abilities, I never wanted to actually be Peter Parker. If I was to meet Peter Parker, I would be like, "Hey, what's up Peter? You're a pretty cool dude. But...where's that spider that gave you all your powers?" I still think Peter Parker is cool and definitely would hang out with him, but I also really would want to meet and know where the source of his powers come from.

There is a difference between allowing a child to idolize you and being their hero. A hero is defined as someone who is admirable, and known for their outstanding qualities. You want a child to admire you, because you want them to notice that something is different about you. However, just as we know that Peter Parker has his powers because of something outside of his own abilities;something supernatural, that's also what we need to communicate to the children that the only reason we can have the abilities and admirable qualities that we do, is because of the supernatural power of God being shown through us.

"Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than man." 1 Corinthians 1:25.

 Be a hero to a child. Make them feel special, and love them the way Christ loved us. But don't allow them to think anything more of us than that we are servants of Christ allowing Him to live through us. Kids all look up to superheroes because they want the powers that they have, not because they want to be the person without the powers. Show children that the source of your power is Christ. As cool as they think we are sometimes, show them that the power of Christ is the only reason we can be what we are to them. When we show them true love, we are showing them Christ, the best friend that they could ask for. That's what they are truly looking for, and that's what they truly need.