God’s Total Surrender to Us

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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神的捨棄

神愛世人，甚至將他的獨生子賜給他們……（約三16）

救恩並不只是從罪惡中得解救，也不只是個人成聖的經歷；救恩乃是神把人從自己解脫出來，與他合一。我對救恩的認識，是從脫離罪開始，以致個人成聖；可是救恩的真諦，是聖靈使我接觸到神自己；因這超越自我千萬倍的主宰震撼激盪，我被神的犧牲吸引住了。若有人說我們被召是要傳聖潔與成聖之道，就偏差了。我們被召 是要傳耶穌基督。他救我們脫離罪，使我們成聖，這不過是神奇妙犧牲中的一部分。

真正的捨棄，是不會對本身所作的有所知覺，因為整個生命已經被那一位我們為他擺上的主所佔有了。你若不知道何為放下捨棄，就不要隨便講說。除非你明白約翰福音三章16節裡的意思：神怎樣毫無保留地將自己賜給人；否則，你永不會明白何為捨棄。我們的捨棄就是把自己完全交給神，正如神為我們捨了自己，不計算代價一樣。捨棄的後果如何，不會在我們 的人生觀上顯露，因為我們的生命已經充滿了基督。

祈禱◆噢，主啊，今早讓我為過往的一切讚美你——我是那麼的任性，你卻是那麼的慈愛、長久忍耐、滿有寬恕和親切。