I Quit - Pt 2

Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV). Have I ever mentioned that I hate to lose at anything? I do. I often lose, but I hate it when I do. Through the years I gotten better at hiding my feelings, but they are there still. This past year I was deer hunting on a friend’s farm in Middle Tennessee. I had passed on a lot of deer because I just didn’t see the one I wanted to kill. Finally it was late enough in the season where I had promised to get some meat to take to Texas and I needed to just kill a doe. I was sitting overlooking a nice field, and sure enough about eight does walked out for their afternoon feed. I had plenty of time to pick a shot; it wasn’t too far away. Everything seemed perfect, until I missed! I hate that. I don’t usually miss. Fortunately, I was able to make up for my miss a few days later and killed a nice deer to take to Texas. After texting a picture of the downed animal to my friend, he texted back: “Well, it’s good that you redeemed yourself.” A friendly jab, but a reminder of how much I hate losing! Surrendering to God is like that for many. It is not an easy thing to do. It seems like quitting; the thought of surrender seems like losing. It certainly is an overwhelming reminder that we’re no longer going to control our lives. It is difficult to imagine letting go of things we believe they can’t live without. Surrender is a difficult act. You see, it’s one thing to say we trust God and have absolute faith in him, but it’s quite another thing to actually put that into full practice. In order to surrender all, we have to overcome our fear of not knowing what lies ahead. We have to give up personal control and guaranteed security. We have to believe that real security comes from trusting him. A helpful way to overcome any fears of complete surrender is to look at the attributes of God. He is worthy of our trust. We need not fear giving our all to him; and there’s no better way to win than that!