Day 8 Surrender Can Be Difficult

Today’s Scripture

Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your sel!sh ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you beneit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

Mark 8:34-37 (NLT)

Big Idea

God wants you to leave your selfish ways behind you.

Today’s Thought

Me. Me. Me.

Did you realize that no one ever has to teach 2-year-olds how to say “me” or

“mine”? It’s just something every young child seems to automatically absorb,

know, and understand. And we let them get away with it — to a degree —

because they’re, well, kids!

As we get older, we’re supposed to learn how to share and get along with the

people around us. But it doesn’t always happen. We all enjoy being sel!sh. It’s

pretty easy to do, and our culture doesn’t really discourage us from pursuing

selfish dreams and desires.

God wants us as r12 Christians to experience a surrendered life, but it can

be tough for us because it means sacrificing our spot as the most important

person in our lives.

Surrender requires us to develop a lifestyle with God in first place. Surrender

requires us to think about others instead of just focusing on our own needs.

Surrender requires us to appreciate the gift of salvation we’ve received but

willing share that good news with others, too. Those are choices we make as

we move forward with becoming mature followers of God.

And that’s why surrender can be difficult.

Remember what Romans 12:1 said? Paul was talking about Christians

becoming living sacri!ces — total surrender to God. It would be easier to offer

ourselves as dead sacrifices because we would no longer have any say! But

being a living sacrifice means we have to continuously choose to surrender. It

isn’t a one-time event; it’s a lifestyle.

Prayer

God, I want my life to be more about You and less about me. It’s such a huge

struggle, but I know it brings incredible rewards. Would You please help me

today? I want to surrender the stuff that keeps me from becoming more like

You. I need to focus more on You and others, and less on myself. I know that as

I do this, You will continue to meet all my needs and provide and care for me

in every way, and I thank You for that. Amen.