Selling The Camaro
They went to a place called Gethsemane. He said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. He said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch.”
Going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”” Mark 14:32-36
Insight
A strange tension was building in my gut as I waited for the appraisal of my Camaro. I was wrestling with the reality of having to get rid of my first car. Denise and I had been talking about the potential for our family to grow in a couple of years, and we knew the value on my car would only depreciate the longer we held onto it. But I was not ready to surrender my Camaro. We had been through so much! For 6 years, I had been rolling around town with a car that brought attention and I knew I would miss it a little bit. Yet, Denise and I knew it was time for a more family friendly vehicle. This became especially true when God changed our 2 year plan to grow our family to 5 months!
We all know that surrender feeling. It is a heaviness in our gut because we have to go through something that will have a cost. Surrender is everything but easy. The cost is often more than we want to pay. I know people who spend their lives running away from surrender’s call. But in the end, running from surrender is more taxing and costly, even though we may still fear the call to give up what we love or value. This tension is arguably stronger for those who follow Jesus. Surrender is something we sign up for as Christ followers. Thankfully, one of the greatest realities of walking with Jesus is that He does not ask anything from us that He was willing to go through first.
Jesus lived a life that was marked by surrender. His first moment of surrender came as He made His way to the world in the form of a baby. Jesus surrendered His absolute deity to take on the challenges of humanity. Though we do not have an account of every moment Jesus wrestled with human challenges, we can trust that He embraced the fullness of humanity. The writer of Hebrews revealed this truth: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Temptations, hunger, earaches, skinned knees, and all the aspects of humanity were available to Jesus. And Jesus chose from the beginning to surrender the fullness of deity. He has a true understanding of what we face every day.
Jesus even knows the tension that comes with surrender. The moment Jesus began praying in the Garden was one of the most vulnerable and raw moments for our Savior. Jesus pleaded with His Father to not have to go through the suffering, and ultimately the complete surrendering of His life. Jesus knew what He was about to go through. You could even argue that Jesus knew He HAD to go through it. But still, Jesus cried out to His Father. Jesus threw Himself into the tension of surrender. So, when we cry out, He understands.
Ultimately, Jesus modeled the way through the tension of surrender: trusting the greater purpose of our Heavenly Father. After Jesus pleaded His case, He reminded Himself that the purpose of surrender is for something greater to happen. Jesus knew the greater purpose of His surrender would be the redeemed relationship between God and man, the restored relationship of a Heavenly Father with His children. Jesus met the tension of surrender with trust that God would work. This trust is what carried Him through the tension.
That same trust will carry us as well. We believe the promise that God uses everything. Nothing is wasted in the hands of our Father.
When the tension and call of surrender comes into our life, we must lean into a Father who is constantly working. We must push through to that place where even though we do not know the outcome, we trust the One who creates the outcome. The tension of surrender comes often, and costs more than we want to pay, but let’s find hope as we echo the words of our Savior to our Father, “Not what I will, but what You will.”
Reflection
What is your response to the tension of surrender?
How can you steer your heart towards the beauty of the words, “Not what I will, but what You will” ?
Prayer
Father, thank you for leaning into the tension of surrender. No other act of surrender changed the course of history than Your willingness to die on a cross. Not only did it free me from sin, but it set the stage that when I do not want to surrender, You get it. You walk with me through the surrender, and You remind me that it works towards a greater purpose than I could imagine. Help me to live a life that echoes the words, not my will but Yours. I pray in Your name, Amen.
Port City writer Davy Nance wrote today’s devotional.
