EVER CONFRONT THIS?

You know—maybe I am just speaking to myself here. But am I the only one that has this struggle or can you also relate? I am referring to the struggle with acceptance, surrender, and contentedness.  

Acceptance and contentment are bosom buddies. If we aspire to whole hearted acceptance we must of necessity be content and vice versa—when we are resolved to a state of complete contentedness it is derived from our acceptance. Surrender joins in here as a close companion. Actually these form an attitudinal trinity. Working in concert they complete a whole.

Did you realize that even our Lord struggled in the Garden of Gethsemane with acceptance of the culmination of His life’s mission? And how did He deal with it? By speaking frankly to His Heavenly Father. His words from Luke 22:42: “…if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but always Yours be done.”  

So perhaps a good formula for conquering our struggle would be to engrave the following Scriptures indelibly on our hearts:

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves then to God…” A synonym for submit is surrender.

I Thessalonians 5:18 “Thank God in everything—no matter what the circumstances may be…” Pretty hard for a position of thankfulness in everything to coincide with a posture of unacceptance.  

Philippians 4:10 “…for I have learned to be content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted)…” This from Paul.

In addition, we can take encouragement in knowing that even the Son of God understands this conflict from experience. But He promptly overcame that struggle by getting on His knees. (Luke 22:41 …”knelt down and prayed”) The result of Jesus’ impassioned prayer was “there appeared to Him an angel from heaven, strengthening Him in spirit.” (Luke 22:43) It would behoove us to follow His example of petitioning God for conquering power. And, as He, that the conclusion we consistently speak is, “…yet not my will, but always Yours be done.” Anticipate being strengthened in spirit.