I surrender all...today

I was listening to a song by Above the Golden State called "Sound of Your Name" and this line popped out at me:

The plans we made were bound to stumble Only you remain...

So often we make plans that we want to happen. So often those things never happen or what happens don't remotely resemble what we had in our minds. Things change...people change. I find it kind of funny to think back to when I was in college 5 years ago and what I had planned on my 5 year goal list. I don't have that but I bet it looked something like: I want to be a pastor...be married and have kids. Thats it...interesting huh? Never would I have imagined how much I've learned and finding the love of my life right beside me. The kid thing is...well...part of the story yet to be written.

As I was watching a sermon online today the pastor was talking about our passions and what would we do if we knew we wouldn't fail. It hit me that I don't do a lot of things and plan things that I know that I can't do. I plan things that I have control over and know that I have the ability to do. This isn't the Christian life. This is the life of most Christians who when you ask them how they are doing they reply with their latest sad story about this or that and let you know that they are"here" or that "the bills are getting paid". Did Christ die for that? So that we could pay the bills or just be here? Doesn't John 10:10 tell us that Christ came so that we could have an abundant life?

I am realizing lately that I have misunderstood the song I surrender all. For the longest time I thought it was about a moment in time where you announce or proclaim that you have given everything to Christ. While that might be part of it, it is much more of a daily process that too many of us forget. We need to surrender the small things...the things that we don't think are that big...the times when we decide against something that is God-sized and do something that is our-sized.

Mark Batterson said that he wanted to do less things in ministry and life that he could take credit for and do more things that only God could take credit for. That is what I want...that is what all Christians should want. A life that is God-sized, worthy of the calling that God has placed on our lives. Not a calling that requires you to be in the ministry or a missionary. Rather a calling to live out your life, no matter the field, for the GLORY of God. Still, too often we find ourselves just getting by and we don't reach for the God-sized things. We fail to surrender all...we only surrender some. Today and every day forward that simply is just not good enough.

The plans we make that are our-sized rather than being God-sized ARE bound to stumble and fail.

May we all reach for things that are beyond our reach and plans that only a God like our God could accomplish!