The Rest of Faith: Embracing that I Am who I Am... by Grace
/Sometimes it sounds as if living by faith is a passive existence. If we surrender to God, does it mean we are nothing, we do nothing? No way!Read More
Sometimes it sounds as if living by faith is a passive existence. If we surrender to God, does it mean we are nothing, we do nothing? No way!Read More
If God Himself is the Strong One who does the doing, what is my part…yes faith, but what about my doing?
To answer that, let’s look again at our second “yet not I” verse:
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain. In fact, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God with [sun, united with] me. (1 Corinthians 15:10 NET)Read More
We humans have a problem with wanting to be in control, don't we? To yield our will to another human is risky...will they follow through? Do they really have our best at heart? Or are they all about their own self-interest?
Harder still to surrender to a God who allows hard...even impossibly horrible things...to enter our lives. He doesn't seem to play by our rules, does He?
But I am struck by Jesus' prayer from the cross. It reveals a lifetime of surrender to His Father,
Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
I reflect on His prayer just a few days earlier,
Not my will, but thine be done.
Many have followed a young mom who prayed that same prayer as she walked out her death for the past several years...leaving a devoted husband and four young children behind just the other day. A hard "why?" enters our minds.
But the wonderful thing was that Kara Tippetts "lived while she was alive."
Read her story here on her blog Mundane Faithfulness.
As I think of Christ's final prayer, I ask myself,
What am I hesitating to relinquish? How about my "All"? Nothing held back!
What might you be hesitating to relinquish? Your all, holding nothing back?
Let's think about that and we'll talk again.
Janet Renner Loyd has been a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ most of her life. Her formal education includes a degree in education from the University of Arizona and also a degree in Bible & Theology from Moody Bible Institute. For more than thirty years, she has been involved in teaching and leading women’s Bible studies, retreats, and meetings…most notably Precept upon Precept and various studies that she has personally developed. Professionally, Jan recently retired from teaching language and writing to GED and adult ESOL students.
About her life, Jan says, “The most important thing about me is my relationship with my Father God through my Lord Jesus Christ. I am forever grateful to Him for His love, mercy, and grace to me and my family and friends...and the world.”
Jan has been happily married to John Loyd for more than forty years. They have two adult, married children and five lively young grandsons.