By Gary D. Robinson
In Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis acknowledges how difficult it is to surrender ourselves, but he explains why it is necessary: "We are trying to let our mind and heart go their own way — centered on money or pleasure or ambition and hoping, in spite of this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly.
"And that is exactly what Christ warned us you could not do. As He said, a thistle doesn't produce figs. If I am field that contains nothing but grass-seed, I cannot produce wheat. Cutting the grass may keep it short: but I shall still produce grass and not wheat. If I want to produce wheat, the change must go deeper than the surface. I must be ploughed up and resown."
Lewis goes on to explain that the real battle to surrender the heart doesn't occur where we think — not as some gargantuan temptation rakes its claws against the door, not as we face some crisis of soul. The real arena is in our beds first thing in the morning. As we wake, all our wishes and plans for the day rush at us like animals. Lewis says that the first order of business is simply shoving them all back, listening to "that other voice."
If it sounds difficult, it is. While we consider whether it's worth it, however; let's ask ourselves this question: Just what are we trying to hang onto? Money? Most of my life, I kept my money for myself. So why do I have so little now? Time? Is there never enough time to serve the Lord? I guarantee you, one day we'll all have more time than we can possibly use — sitting alone in a nursing home. If we live that long. For life is even more slippery than time.
Martyred missionary Jim Elliot wrote in his journal, "He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." Elliot's sacrificial life and perfect peace stand in marked contrast to the hedonistic lifestyle and tortured mind of W. Somerset Maugham. Blessed with wealth commensurate with his great writing gifts, "Willie" lived in luxury on the Riviera. At the close of his life, however, he was plagued by shrieking terrors: "Go away! I'm not ready . . . I'm not dead yet . . . I'm not dead yet, I tell you . . . "
The fate of Somerset Maugham underlines the truth of C.S. Lewis' words: "Look for yourself and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in."
Why would we want to carry a cross? Why wouldn't we?
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Gary D. Robinson is Preaching Minister at Conneautville Church of Christ in Conneautville, PA.