Purpose Driven Life: Day 10

THE HEART OF WORSHIP




POINT TO PONDER:

The heart of worship is surrender.


VERSE TO REMEMBER:

"Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness." [Romans 6:13]


RICK WARREN'S THOUGHTS:

Offering yourself to God is what worship is all about.

There are three barriers that block our TOTAL surrender to God:

i. fear;
ii. pride; and
iii. confusion.

FEAR - CAN I TRUST GOD?

Trust is an essential ingredient to surrender. You won't surrender to God unless you trust him, but you can't trust him until you know him better. Fear keeps us from surrendering, but love casts out all fear. The more you realize how much God loves you, the easier surrender becomes.

PRIDE - ADMITTING LIMITATIONS

We don't want to admit that we're just creatures and not in charge of everything. It's the oldest temptation: "you will be like God." [Gen 3:5]

We accept our humanity intellectually, but not emotionally. When faced with our own limitations, we react with irritation, anger, and resentment.

CONFUSION - WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO SURRENDER?

"Surrender is best demonstrated in obedience and trust."

Surrender is not the best way to live, it is the only way to live. Nothing else works. All other approaches lead to frustration, disappointment, and self-destruction.


D-MONK'S THOUGHTS:

Today's reflection in the Purpose Driven Life hits home for D-Monk. Surrender has been held in his heart as the key to recovery. But so many questions. Surrender what? And surrender to whom?

One of the blessings of addiction (once the addict has "bottomed out") is a willingness to admit your powerlessness. Life has clearly become unmanageable. And when an addict sees where his own decision making power has taken him, he is ready to overcome those first two hurdles to surrender -- fear and pride.

Fear is a very real hurdle to surrender. For years the addict acknowledged God with his mind, but did not want to surrender decision making to any power other than himself. Surrender to God might lead to a good life, but would it be full? Would God take away the right to enjoy pleasures that so many other seemingly good people get to enjoy? Perhaps acknowledging God with my lips will be sufficient and I can make my own decisions which will lead to a good life.

When the addict has reached bottom, he knows that he can no longer make all of the decisions needed to live a good life. He no longer fears surrender.

The same is true for pride. The addict could never acknowledge that God, no matter how great God might be, could truly know better than the addict what decisions were good for his life. Total surrender seemed foolish when the addict was so intelligent and self-aware. But again, bottoming out helps the addict past this hurdle. Pride is gone when addiction has become your heart's ruler. Surrender becomes more possible.

And so there is the last hurdle mentione by Rick Warren -- confusion. How do we surrender? Alas, it is this seemingly most simple question that proves the most difficult, at least for this addict.

D-Monk's thoughts at this time are really as follows: (i) the addict is ready and willing to surrender control of his life over to God (as he understands God); (ii) the addict is unsure exactly how to do this, but (iii) the addict is trying every day to do this. The time has come for surrender and the addict is ready.