In the Christian world, the phrase “accepting Christ” is often used when referring to someone who converts to the faith. I’ve realized, however, that it isn’t a great representation of what actually takes place when someone becomes a Christian.
Becoming a Christian doesn’t simply mean that you accept some doctrine of how to live your life and start following a set of rules. Most religions are law-based, but Christianity is not. It’s relationship-based.
Acceptance gives the connotation that you are in control. That you are the one that is deciding what you are and what you aren’t going to do, and in this moment you are saying that you accept Christianity…but what does that even mean?
Instead of accepting a set of rules and doctrine, instead, becoming a Christian means that you surrender everything that you are, all of your hopes and dreams, your aspirations, etc. over to Him. To die to your own self and be made alive by him…That might sound harsh. “You tell me it’s not rule-based but then you tell me there’s this thing I have to do.”
But it’s just the opposite. It’s not anything you have to do, it’s letting go of the things you think you should do. And it’s not even that you don’t do some of those things, but it’s saying, “not my will, but your will be done, God.”
Many see this as being restricted. Like you’re suffocating the freedom that we have as humans by surrendering our own rights to our life. But what if the person that you surrendered your life to know you 1,000 times better than you knew yourself and used you in a way that would be most edifying to your soul? Maybe you’re still skeptical about it, but that’s what God does for us. When we give over complete control of everything in our life. Our possessions, our experiences, our friendships, our relationships, our time, etc.
The best way I can think to describe it is like this:
You’re holding a cup, and for whatever reason, you can only ever get this cup to be ¾ full, and you’re constantly drinking from the cup and refilling it, drinking, refilling, and on. Surrendering to Christ then looks like this: dump everything you have in your cup out. Dumb it on the ground right where you’re at. You might think this crazy. You work so hard to keep that filled, how am I tryna empty that all of a sudden.
But let’s say you do. You empty your cup completely out. You hand your cup to God, and he starts to fill it. But when he gets to where your top was before, he doesn’t stop. He continues to fill the cup until it starts overflowing. As you drink and take in the delicious water, it doesn’t stop coming. You stop thinking about having to refill your cup and start realizing your gratitude in no longer having to work to fill it. What do you now do with all of the time you no longer have to use to fill the cup?
Well, perhaps, just maybe, it’s to tell other people about the way that your cup has been taken. And that when you truly surrendered, life became so much easier. The circumstances around you may not have changed, and life may not have gotten easier, but the thing that you’re now focused on is unchanging and you don’t have to worry about the many bad things happening that may or may not affect you.
This Psalm that I read at the beginning of this week describes very well some of my thoughts and some encouragement that we have from God.
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.”
Allow your soul to be satisfied with rich and fat food. Don’t just accept Christ into your life, surrender your life completely to Him.