"The Reason for God"- by Timothy Keller

I have been reading a lot in New Orleans. I just finished The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. It is a great book…you should definitely read it if you get a chance! Anyways, I wanted to share my favorite part of the book with you.

On page 178 this is what it says,

““The Christian was is different-both harder and easier. Christ says, “Give me ALL. I don’t want just this much or your time and this much of your money and this much of your work-so that your natural self can have the rest. I want you. Not your things. I have come not to torture your natural self…I will give you a new self instead. Hand over the whole natural self-ALL the desires, not just the ones you think wicked but the ones you think innocent-the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.”

Here Lewis works from Kierkegaard’s definition of sin. Sin is not simply doing bad things; it is putting good things in the place of God. So the only solution is not simply to change our behavior, but to reorient and center the entire heart and life on God.

“The almost impossibly hard thing is to hand over your whole self to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves”- our personal happiness centered on money or pleasure or ambition- and hoping, despite this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you cannot do. If I am a grass field- all the cutting will keep the grass less but won’t produce wheat. If I want wheat…I must be plowed up and re-sown.”

Does that scare you? Does it sound stifling? Remember this- if you don’t live for Jesus you will live for something else.”


Isn’t that good?!?!

I was once told by my good friend Reilly that “If you don’t surrender everything than you aren’t surrendering at all. To surrender anything less than everything isn’t surrendering, it is simply compromising.” I have thought about this a lot, both while I was in school and now, here in New Orleans. It is so hard to truly surrender….surrender everything to the Lord. I mean, it is easy to surrender your resources, and even a lot of your time, but ALL?

I guess that I am just really challenged by this idea of surrendering absolutely all. I know that it is something that I will be trying to do for the rest of my life and will never accomplish in full. But I think that it is a good thing to think about. It is a good thing to wrestle with. Maybe, in wrestling with this idea, I will surrender more of myself to God today than I did yesterday.