RESET: On Giving Up

One of my goals leading up to this RESET journey was to determine what influences over the years has incorrectly lead me to reconstruct who Jesus really is, if I have at all. Sadly, and not surprisingly, I have painted my image of Jesus as a sort of caricature; the main features established but stretched or blurred or reduced. This was not purposeful on my part. I am learning, especially with the completion of week three study that I have been falsely lead. The culture that surrounds me has made a compelling case to take on attributes and attitudes that are the opposite of Jesus. Why this surprises me I do not know as this is something that I was taught, as a young Christian, to expect.

Week three was all about surrender. The two primary areas of focus had to do with the things in life that we try to control and our interactions with haters (both who hate us and those to whom we return the favor). When I took the time to reflect on these things I realized my behaviors and attitudes were (are) based on a 'righteous', self protecting point of view. The things in my life that I control--space, time, growth/maturity of my kids--are things that I have rationalized in my mind in a positive spin. Without getting specific or bogged down in semantics, I have created such a tight environment for myself and family that I wonder how much of God's leading can be understood in the depths of my complicated underpinning. An example is how I spend my time. I seem to schedule every second of my day. I want a plan. I want to execute this plan so that I can say I accomplished something. I desire achievement and fear not being productive. Maybe I want to accomplish something because achievement is proof that I am not lazy. See what I mean? Rationalization with a righteous spin.

I am a control freak, what can I say? For me, the surrender needs to come not with the virtues I am trying to deepen in myself and develop in my kids but with my attachment to the framework I have created to hold up these virtues. When my scheduled day does not play out like it should, having absorbed spontaneous entries (accidents, distractions, underestimates, telephone calls) my reaction is none too good. This is where the surrender is needed. I need to give up the framework when "things" not planned for happen. God may be breaking in; I need to listen and realize there may be something of far greater worth that I can accomplish.

Jesus wants you to give up. Read for yourself Simon's story and then a prostitute's encounter with Jesus. Giving up is completely counter-cultural. I have learned that to give up is weakness, to quit is a lack of commitment. Not so with the King.