The Tyre Quagmire

When I was in college I took a class entitled "The Old Testament Prophets." The professor (an ordained minister and super-nice guy) took it on himself to make sure we students were aware that the Bible was, in his opinion, "unreliable." He used Ezekiel 26 as his primary example. He read verses 3-14:

Artist's rendition of Alexander the Great's siege against Tyre

  "Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. They shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers, and I will scrape her soil from her and make her a bare rock. She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for the spreading of nets, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. And she shall become plunder for the nations, and her daughters on the mainland shall be killed by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
"For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horsemen and a host of many soldiers. He will kill with the sword your daughters on the mainland. He will set up a siege wall against you and throw up a mound against you, and raise a roof of shields against you. He will direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. His horses will be so many that their dust will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen and wagons and chariots, when he enters your gates as men enter a city that has been breached. With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your mighty pillars will fall to the ground.
They will plunder your riches and loot your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. Your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. And I will stop the music of your songs, and the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more. I will make you a bare rock. You shall be a place for the spreading of nets. You shall never be rebuilt, for I am the LORD; I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD."

This, he said, was a clear example of biblical fallibility since history shows that Nebuchadnezzar was unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer Tyre, an island city 1/2 mile from the shore in the Mediterranean. He even quoted some other passages from Ezekiel where he said Ezekiel "backed-off" his earlier prophecies about Tyre when he saw they had not been fulfilled.

I left class that day feeling discouraged. He had argued persuasively. I was asking myself, "Do I need to reevaluate my understanding of the Bible? Is it really true? Or are there some parts that are imaginative, speculative, or worse, deceptive? How can I believe any of it if any part is flawed?" I was reeling. After all, if parts of Ezekiel are untrustworthy, how can I know John 3:16 is true?

I got in my truck after class to grab lunch and drive to Knoxville where I worked. My radio was tuned to a religious station and I caught the beginning of Thru the Bible Radio with J. Vernon McGee (something I occasionally listened to). He "just happened" to be talking about Ezekiel 26 that day! I couldn't believe it! On that show he pointed out details in the text that my professor had (conveniently?) overlooked. He also told about Alexander the Great, who with his Greek army (one of the "many nations" who God would "bring up against" Tyre) also besieged Tyre. They quite literally used the ruins of Old Tyre, the part of Tyre that was on the mainland—actually scraping the soil—and threw the rubble into the Mediterranean to make a causeway—a land bridge—to the island city so that Alexander could conquer it! I was amazed, elated, and mad. Before my next class I did some research. I checked the facts for myself and found that McGee was right. Several non-Christian sources confirmed the historical account of Tyre's demise. And I read Ezekiel's account with my own eyes (along with some help from my Ryrie Study Bible notes) and saw the amazing accuracy of the prophecy—down to the details! Far from being an example of inaccuracy, this was an amazing testimony to the Bible's dependability—and a reminder: God means what he says. A quick trip to the campus library uncovered much more about the "many nations" that were brought up against Tyre. Interestingly, ancient Tyre remains ruins to this day. It has never been rebuilt. Ezekiel's prophecy could hardly have been more literally fulfilled.

I went back to class loaded for bear. After his lecture I engaged the professor, sharing with the class what I had learned of Ezekiel 26 and the rest of the story of Tyre's history. Funny, he didn't want to talk about it. He quickly cut off any discussion and dismissed the class! Although I felt victorious, it was also frustrating! Why would a Christian religion professor and minister seek to undermine the veracity of the Bible in the minds of college students? Why not celebrate the accuracy of the Word? It's still a mystery to me.

Here is an article about the supposed "difficulty" regarding Ezekiel 26. Read it and see what you think!

Still Reading? Hang In There!

I know, I know. The Journey reading is tough right now. I’ve heard it from many of you. People in my small group and even some in my own family have fallen off the pace a little. Life gets busy in the fall when school starts back and it doesn’t help that the reading in Ezekiel (like Jeremiah) is, well, depressing. Would it help if I told you that there’s light at the end of the tunnel? We’re only one month away from the New Testament!!! In fact, things are going to get better even before we start the Gospels. Daniel is really interesting and unbelievably accurate regarding what would happen in the world before the Messiah was to come, and there’s a really cool event that we’ll read about next: the return of the Jews from the exile. You don’t want to miss it. Putting the final pieces in place will complete this big puzzle we’ve been working on since January! You’ll be so glad you stayed with it, and you’ll understand the Old Testament better than 90% of all Christians! Don’t quit!

Even more than this, I don’t want you to miss the important spiritual purpose for reading all this doom-and-gloom. There IS a spiritual purpose. And it’s not ALL doom-and-gloom. Okay, there’s a lot, but every bit of it is necessary. God had a purpose for it then and he has a purpose for preserving it for us to read now. For them? Easy. He wanted them to realize the seriousness of rebelling against him. He also wanted them to consider how hard it is for inherently sinful people to be obedient to an infinitely holy God. In fact, it’s impossible! With all the advantages he’d given them and all the ways he’d revealed himself to them, they still couldn't break free from the gravitational pull of their sinful hearts. So now, in the time of Ezekiel, they’re broken and exiled to a foreign nation as slaves. God reminded them why they were where they were. Over and over it seems. According to my wife, "he’s rubbing their noses in it."

His purpose for US in reading it? Exactly the same. He wants us to see the seriousness of sin and our inability to change ourselves. He wants us to grapple with the similarities between them and us. He wants us to wonder if the doom and gloom ever ends.

Then he cracks the door of hope.

God says that HE will take your heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh. HE will establish a new, everlasting covenant. HE will atone for your sin. HE will be our God and we will be his people. No one will say, “serve the Lord” because HE will write his law on our hearts.

It reminds me of the time long before when the whole “God’s people” thing began. Remember Abraham? In Genesis 15 God promised to make a great nation of him, and Abraham believed—which God “counted to him as righteousness.” In the great scene that followed, God asked Abraham to prepare some animals and divide their carcasses in halves as men did in ancient days when making a covenant. The two men would then “walk the blood path” between the dead animals to promise, “If I break my end of the deal, I’ll die like these animals.” Abraham prepared the animals and then waited. He even had to drive off the vultures that wanted to eat the carcasses. He finally fell deeply asleep and a “dreadful and great darkness fell upon him.” God showed him a glimpse of a hard future for his offspring. Then God symbolically passed through the animal carcasses...twice. Once for himself and once for Abraham. Don’t forget the picture. God was saying in effect, “You can’t live up to your end of the covenant. So I’ll do it for you. And if (when) you don’t, I’ll die in your place.

Abraham’s children have utterly failed to live up. Now God, through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, is making sure they know it. And he’s preparing the way to come and die in their place. Just as he showed Abraham he would.

Oh, and that promise to Abraham’s family? We’ll see in the New Testament that it includes all who believe, just as Abraham believed and was counted righteous. So hang in there! It will all come together. You’ll be so glad you pushed through.

God’s Glory in Brazil

I am just now able to sit down long enough to write some reflections on this trip I’ve been on.

The last week-and-a-half has been life-changing for me and a few people and (I pray) world-changing for others. God has just blessed this time, effort, and money.

Last week I went with some in our church (including my family) to work with the church we planted in Barra (Rio de Janeiro) Brazil. They are doing an amazing work. God is blessing them with much growth and increasing influence, both in the Christian circles of Brazil as well as cultural change in Rio. Last Sunday, they had about 2600 people in their worship services. 47 people joined their church Sunday, making the total number of members 1745. That’s amazing when you remember they had a small handful of people when the church began 9 years ago. But to simply state numbers does not give an adequate picture. The church is unique in Brazil. In it are both rich and poor. Worshiping, serving, and learning together. And loving one another. Examples abound.

One of the two poor communities we worked in is called Tijuquinha (ti-ju-KEEN-ya). When I went there with a group five years ago, it was much worse. It felt extremely dangerous. Open sewage. Strong bad smell. The people we met there seemed much poorer. Lice-infested kids wore rags and scraggly animals walked the dirt alleys. Homes were dirty. It truly was a favela (Portuguese for “slum”). The church had just started reaching into the area, and we met with a small group of about 6 people, and went to the homes of several others who were new Christians. This time I noticed a remarkable change in Tijuquinha. Kids seemed healthy. I did not notice a smell. Dirt streets had been paved with cobblestones and had sidewalks. Many neat little stores and services (like hairdressers) were doing business. Homes were much neater. It seemed much safer. It’s not even accurate to call Tijuquinha a favela anymore. We were told that it is now called a comunidade (pronounced “communi-dodge,” meaning “community”)! What happened?

Darla and I after our first day at Tijuquinha watching our
group interact with the people (and watching Dara,
Addy, and Allie show Brazilian boys how American
girls play soccer. They were quite impressed!).
We were sporting our tie dye shirts. We made
hundreds of these for the kids there! An awesome day.

I think I know. There are now dozens of small groups from Central Church Barra there. I walked the streets and met many people inviting them to our program there and giving out Bibles and lists of the small groups in the community. Almost everyone knew of Central Church Barra and had favorable things to say. The church has literally transformed the community. Many of the residents I met 5 years ago who were new Christians are now leaders in the church and/or community. You can just tell they are happy and growing. They are seeing their community changed. This time I met with a small group (a couple of other groups met with us, so it was not really “small”). Four men received Christ that very night. UNBELIEVABLE!

The rest of the week we worked in a new favela that the church has targeted to transform. It has already begun. They had events designed for the purpose of showing love to those people whom the government had forgotten. It reminded me of the Tijuquinha I visited five years ago. But we (the group from Providence and Central Barra) played with kids, prayed with the people, presented the Gospel, and invited the whole community to a big event there on Saturday. At that event lawyers, doctors, professional counselors, veterinarians, physical therapists, and other professionals from the church set up stations to give free help to the people. The church went all out and we were right there with them. We made salvation bracelets (I’ll try to blog later about them) that told the story of the Gospel, and (with translators from Central Barra) told hundreds about Jesus’ love. Then some famous Brazilian musicians gave a mini concert for the people and Pastor Josué spoke of God’s love and told the people that Central Barra was just starting to show his love and would be in this community from now on. At least 47 people received Christ. I am tearing up as I recount this even now.

This week I’m in São Paulo, the third largest city in the world (according to some reports). There are many places here where wealthy and poor neighborhoods live virtually side-by-side, oblivious to one another, and oblivious to the Good News. We’re wanting to start another church like Central Barra. Please pray for us. Jesse Cragwall of GPI is assisting, Tim & Polly Sumner are translating, and John Barber is getting it all on video. More later, just please pray as we meet with pastors, denominational leaders, seminary professors, and potential church planters. Many thanks to those who are helping us make connections and getting the word out. Great things are happening.

Back in Brazil

Finally here in Brazil. I thought I'd write a few reports as I get the chance. Travel went pretty well (minus a delayed flight from Knoxville to Atlanta which caused Jesse, John, and I to have to run like maniacs OJ style through a couple of concourses. We almost didn't catch the flight to Brazil! We were sweating and wheezing when we sat down on the plane!). My first surprise was the way the church has grown! They have made use of every inch of the property that they bought and have bought more. The auditorium that had low ceilings and held about 200 people has been expanded to a capacity of 800 people with a high ceiling. They have 3 services each Sunday averaging 2400 per week! Wow!
Josue is still the humble and godly man that he was. I am almost brought to tears as I see how much God has used them.
More later. Gotta go to sleep.

Give Peace a Chance...Seriously

World Peace

It’s almost a joke. It seems only Hollywood types or beauty pageant contestants speak seriously of “world peace” anymore. And I'm not sure they're serious! At the very least, it’s become a cliché.

I was born a generation after the baby-boomers. I grew up watching the counter-culture, give-peace-a-chance, flower children of the 60s and thought they were almost insane! The popular culture of the 1980s was, in many ways, a reaction against that generation’s excesses and silliness. From bell-bottoms and long hair to straight-legs and short hair, and from war protests to patriotism. My generation saw the maturation of postmodern pessimism. Aristotelian realism regained ground after a splash of Platonic idealism. Communism was a real and present danger and needed to be stopped. The answer, as Reagan put it, was “peace through strength.” But we all knew that meant the real possibility of war. We just wanted to make sure we were the ones who won. The obvious evil of humankind and corruption of human institutions is one of the few “absolute truths” accepted by postmoderns today. We all know the world has major problems, too messy for trite political answers. There will always be some warlord or radical that wants to have his 15 minutes of fame and be taken seriously. There will always be megalomaniacs and paranoid pariahs who disregard human life. We’ve all watched the History Channel. The very idea of world peace is laughable.

Or is it?

We’ve read over half of the Bible chronologically and it looks like God’s plan to bless the whole earth through Abraham’s seed is unraveling as Israel and Judah are self-destructing. When suddenly from the prophets we get glimpses of a glorious future: perfect global peace under a coming King.

What is this?

World peace is no joke. It is a very real thing. Tomorrow morning we will explore it together.

(If you haven't yet, read Micah 4, and Isaiah 9 & 11. It's just a taste.)

A Modern Prophet

What would a prophet look like today?

As I’m reading Jonah, Amos, and Isaiah I’ve been pondering this question. These guys were bold, many times unpopular, and believed what they said—because they believed in the God who said it first. They weren’t (contrary to popular belief) just crazed preachers who flew-off-the-handle every chance they got. They were neither gluttons for punishment nor did they have some kind of martyr-complex. And they certainly weren’t out for personal gain. They were lovers of God in a world that was running away from God as fast as it could. They were lone voices proclaiming hard truth when all other voices were spewing lies. They were people who loved their nation and loved people enough to warn and admonish—sometimes through tears.

A few months ago, Ron Brown, an assistant football coach for the University of Nebraska Cornhuskers, found himself in the news for being, well, a modern-day prophet. I know Ron. He and I were the speakers for a Fellowship of Christian Athletes leadership camp in Shreveport, LA a few years ago. Quite frankly, he may be one of the godliest men I know and perhaps the best speaker I have ever heard. Yep. You read that right. He’s not hateful—quite the contrary. He is a compassionate and loving man. I saw this in the way he treated his wife with honor and how he spent many hours with high school and college students that week that he didn’t even know. He was vulnerable and humble. He genuinely wants people to know the Christ that saves sinners. He’s also passionate and uncompromising about God’s word. Of course that means he's a lightning rod for controversy. That’s what makes him, in my estimation, about as close as we can get today to a prophet.

He proved it when he weighed in on a hot issue this April—perhaps the hottest of our time: homosexuality. It’s the same issue about which I get pushback almost every time I mention it in light of God’s word.

Of course, the popular media frame his words and edit his comments to make him seem like an unloving, extreme fundamentalist. He’s not. He’s a prophet. And like those of old, after the names of all the “kings” that “rule” today are relegated to obscure lists that no one knows except to note their collective complaisant (read: cowardly) attempts to be considered tolerant and hip, Ron Brown will be remembered for much more. He is FAR from hateful. He is faithful to be a lone voice of grace, love, and truth to sinners like me whose salvation is found in no other name but Jesus. He could just enjoy his own redemption and wait around for heaven. But he chooses to put his reputation on the line to invite others to find new life in Christ.

We need prophets today.

Resources from Today

This morning I gave this chart to help us understand the timeline and relationship of the kings and prophets of the divided kingdoms of Judah and Israel. I think you might find this helpful as you read 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. It is easy to get lost in the many names, especially as the writer switches back and forth between Judah and Israel.

Here is one I didn't share that has a little more detail.

If you want these in a .pdf, just email me!

If it can happen to Solomon...

I’ve been reflecting on worship yesterday (I’m writing this on Monday). It was powerful. Jason, Bryan (McKaig), and Rachel led us with concert-quality music and songs that spanned centuries—from 1700s hymns to original pieces written by Jason this year—with the simplest of instruments and soaring vocal harmonies. Wow, I hate it for those who had to be away! Then Bryan Parris (affectionately called BP around here) did an excellent job making sense of a hard week’s reading from the book of Ecclesiastes. All week last week I was kind of thankful that I was not bringing the message, in part due to the difficulty of the book! Solomon is easy to talk about when we are considering the early part of his reign as king. He’s the wise son of David who was so successful. It was during this first part of his reign is when he apparently wrote Proverbs, those incredibly practical truisms that still make wise those who apply them. But then something happened. I don’t think it happened overnight. I think it happened over many years. Solomon strayed. Something I love about the Bible is its brutal honesty (as contrasted to human-authored books which tend to edit out conflicting or unpleasant character-flaws of our heroes). BP showed us this from 1 Kings 11. I’ll include a few more verses:

¹Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, ²from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. ³He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God,as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.⁶So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done. ⁷Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. ⁸And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

There’s so much there that deserves comment...but I’m gonna stick to my point. What happened to Solomon?! How did he go from godly, wise king to one who had “turned away his heart,” “not wholly true to the Lord” and doing “evil in the sight of the Lord”? All the work of David to remove the high places, idolatry, and vanquish the pagan nations seems to have been reversed! All of this certainly didn’t happen overnight. Our small group met last night (Sunday) and had some great discussion about what happened to Solomon. Here are some of their thoughts:

Sensuality overcame morality. It is true that when we pursue the flesh we do not walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-17). It is obvious that he gained an appetite for “many foreign women.” Although polygamy was practiced then (although it was not God's desire), sexually desiring others besides our spouse is no strange concept to us—people love (i.e. lust after) others all the time, as Jesus said, committing adultery in their hearts. When sensuality becomes your motivation, morality is cast aside. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Material wealth choked out spiritual health. This is a huge danger. We can get our desires set on the wrong things. BP made this point well. Stuff can become a god. Jesus said, you cannot serve both God and mammon. Like the seed that fell among the thorns, “they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (Matt. 13, Mark 4, Luke 8). Maybe that’s why he said it’s harder for a rich man to enter heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

The will to please God gave way to the will to please people. I don’t know how, but “Solomon clung to [his wives] in love.” I would not have been able to even remember their names! He had about as many wives as we have in average attendance at Providence! Dude! All joking aside, these women had a profound influence on him. He started making compromises. He made allowances for them to be able to worship false gods—even built places for worship near Jerusalem “for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.” He didn’t lead. He followed the crowd. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Low accountability allowed high vulnerability. As kids we all dream of what it would be like to be a king. Nobody could tell us what to do. Now that I’m old, I realize how dangerous that situation really is. Even David had Nathan who would point out sin in his life. Solomon seems to have no one. We need accountability! It is healthy to have people in a place of spiritual authority in our lives who can lovingly tell us when we blindly begin to compromise. None of us like it our sin is pointed out. If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

Pride replaced humility. A curse of great intellectual ability, accomplishment, power, or wealth is pride. Humans can hardly help to think of themselves as smarter or better than others. Although it’s not as obvious, we can see in Ecclesiastes that Solomon thought himself smarter and better than any in his own time and before him. Oh, if he would have only obeyed his own Proverb (16:18): “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” If it can happen to Solomon, it can happen to me.

There are other possible factors that contributed to Solomon’s fall. Our small group thought of many more. But I like how BP pointed out Solomon’s own self-assessment—given at the end of Ecclesiastes—the regretful, realization of a repentant old king:

“Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14).

BP said to “fear God” is to “desire God’s authority” and to “keep his commandments” is essentially to “desire Christ’s character.” Well said. By keeping this focus we can avoid repeating Solomon’s folly. God, help me do this.

Get Wise!

We're in a great place in the Journey right now. We're reading about Solomon and wisdom literature attributed to him (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon). I introduced it Sunday. It is really practical stuff.

Wisdom doesn’t come naturally. Foolishness does. It’s easier to be lazy than to work hard. It’s easier to lie and cheat than to be truthful. It’s easier to lust than to maintain purity. It’s easier to be passive than to take initiative. It’s easier to over eat and drink than to practice moderation. It’s easier to spend money than to save it. Sometimes wisdom seems counterintuitive!

“There is a way that seems right to a man,

but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12).

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode when George Costanza, feeling like a total failure, determined he was a loser because of where he was in life (mid-thirties, broke, single, no job, living with parents)? It occurred to him that he was in this miserable place due to following his natural instincts. So he decided to do the opposite of his instincts from then on. Hilarious! By the end of the show his life had completely turned around: he had a job with the New York Yankees, he dated a gorgeous woman, and he had an upscale apartment in Manhattan. So funny!

It’s true that our natural tendency is not toward wisdom, it is towards foolishness. If you follow your natural instincts through life, you'll find that many of things that seem like a good idea at the time, prove to be miserable choices. But wisdom brings great rewards.

Blessed is the one who listens to me [wisdom]...

For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the Lord (Proverbs 8:34-35).

Solomon found out that if you have wisdom, you can have anything. With wisdom, you'll not only be able to make money, you'll know how to keep it. You'll be able to find and develop lasting friendships. You'll know what to say and when to say it. If you have wisdom, you'll be able to sleep at night because you won't be dreading the consequences of your actions. You’ll avoid a lot of the misery people bring on themselves, and know how to maximize your personal happiness. With wisdom, you'll be able to raise your kids the right way so that they too will find happiness. When you have wisdom, you really have everything!

That’s why you should desire wisdom, and Proverbs is a great place to discover it. That’s what we’re reading this week. Be wise! Read Proverbs with us! Even if you’ve fallen off the reading wagon, this is a great place to get back on!

Share your favorite verses on our Facebook page or on Twitter (hashtag: #provjourney. That will make your tweet show up on Journey2012.com) and encourage the rest of us! Come Sunday and we'll talk about it.

It’s All About Surrender

(From the blog of journey2012.com)

by Chad Sparks on June 3, 2012 in Bible, Community, Giving, Missions, Prayer

“It’s all about surrender.”

I was raised in a home where those four words were spoken often. As an adult I find them to be true almost every day. When I have surrendered to God—truly surrendered—my perspective about everything else is different. Priorities are clearer; I live with more purpose; I find more joy in what I do; and problems are handled much better. My life is not as difficult because petty worries are seen by me as, well, petty. It really is about surrender.

I’m not specifically talking about receiving Christ and being saved. I’m assuming this has already happened to you. If not, of course that must happen first. Becoming a Christian is to be born again. If you have not yet done so, you can respond to God’s call and believe and trust Christ, asking him to forgive you of your sins. When you sincerely ask God to save you and be your Lord, it is an act of surrender. And he will answer and save! You become his child. This is a one-time and forever thing. Although no fireworks happen, you are regenerated by God. Now justified and made righteous by his grace, his work of sanctification—the process of becoming holy—begins.

Which brings me back to surrender. I have found that I need to mentally surrender to Christ each day. When my alarm sounds and I’m dragging my groggy body to the bathroom, I frequently breathe, “God, I surrender.” As I start the day, I’m relying on his grace and I say to him, “I surrender.” Sometimes when I’m really not feeling it I pray, “God, help me to surrender.” It works (and I’m not a morning person)! God’s grace and work on us doesn’t cease after we believe. This daily exercise is not original to me. Paul said, “I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord” (1 Cor. 15:31). Dying to self is surrendering.

When I surrender this way, it changes much more than my attitude and mood. Like Paul might say, “When I’ve already died, even death isn’t so big a deal. I’m able to face persecution with courage.” Or as he actually wrote, “to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). When I have surrendered to Christ, obedience and trust in other matters come much easier. I’ve already fought and won the main battle—who’s in control. The rest are just minor skirmishes that amount to little more than academic exercises. Now temptation to lust or covet has been rendered much less powerful. Making decisions is easier because I respond according to what brings God glory. I’m not trying to please people or myself. Now I don’t get angry as easy over trivial things.

Like generosity. If I’ve already given God my self, giving away money and time for his glory is not a chore. It’s a joy.

All of the different aspects of The Journey reflect biblical Christianity. To “unsurrendered” people, they can sound overwhelming! But all of them flow naturally and joyfully from a surrendered heart. These aspects—reading and knowing God’s Word, belonging and serving in community, praying, going away on mission, and giving to kingdom causes—they are not the main point. The battle is not whether or not to do any of those things. The battle is whether to surrender.

If you haven’t, you should try it. Really.