Surrendering the Spots

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Thursday, February 21, 2019

Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.  So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death.  But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.  For the sinful nature is always hostile to God.  It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will.  That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.  Romans 8:5-8(NLT)

For most of my life I have struggled with the issue of surrendering my will.  As I look back over the sermons preached since 1978 there is a pattern that is clear.  No matter where the sermon starts, it always finds its way to whether the leopard will consent to surrendering his spots.  Will I allow my will to be subordinated to that of God?  And, will I live the surrendered life willingly or grudgingly?  I certainly can’t compare my life with someone like the Apostle Paul, but this is the same issue with which he grappled:

So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good.  The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.  I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it.  Instead, I do what I hate.  Romans 7:14-15(NLT)

In as simple an illustration that is common to all who do such silliness as make New Year’s resolutions (of which I am chief), New Year’s Day always sets me up for a fall. 

I seize the moment of resolution, which may have to do with less chocolate, more walking, and no fretting.  However, by about 3:00 that afternoon, the refrigerator and couch are calling my name in headline, BIG, BOLD, RED letters!  And I fret myself to a frenzy, once the chips and Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups™ are gone.

So, today’s devotion is for anyone who’s ever suffered a lost night’s sleep, or severe indigestion due to choking on broken resolutions, not those promises that are superficial, like overeating, or lack of exercise…but for breaking your resolve to be the kind of person God would want to hang-out with…it’s time to relax.  Really?

Yes…relax.  If it were not possible to have a healthy, sustainable, and victorious, overcoming lifestyle, God would not have gone through so much trouble to say it is possible.

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.  1 John 5:4(NLT)

As the old saying suggests, no self-respecting leopard is ever going to change his spots.  Those spots have been with him a long time; and, besides, he’s a leopard, and leopards always have spots.

The same is true with humans; our spots are our tendency to be wretched.  And there is no way to change or delete that tendency.  Just look at the news – the tendency towards evil screams in 24-hour cycles of shootings, war, madness, cruelty, with the endless list of how we shake our fists at the God who created us.

John Newton understood this inability to shed our spots, that human and evil nature which Paul said made him a wretched man; Newton wrote[ii] that God’s grace had to save a wretch like [him]; like me.

But God not only identifies this problem…our problem…He has done something about it.  God had Paul write:

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Romans 7:24-25(KJV)

For You Today

Are you tired of those spots?  The surrendered life awaits.  Surrender you to Him; He will deal with the spots the way you can’t.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:  via Pixabay.com

[ii] Amazing Grace