"For God so loved the world that He gave . . ." -
John 3:16
Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the experience of
personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God means being completely
delivered from myself, and being placed into perfect union with Him. When I
think of my salvation experience, I think of being delivered from sin and
gaining personal holiness. But salvation is so much more! It means that the
Spirit of God has brought me into intimate contact with the true Person of God
Himself. And as I am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled
with something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to miss the
main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2 ). The
fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of
His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own efforts to remain
surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the One to whom we surrender.
Beware of talking about surrender if you know nothing about it. In fact, you
will never know anything about it until you understand that John 3:16 means that
God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our surrender, we must give
ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself for us— totally,
unconditionally, and without reservation. The consequences and circumstances
resulting from our surrender will never even enter our mind, because our life
will be totally consumed with Him.
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