A Travel Guide for Life, Faith, and Relationships!
Think about the last time you faced a difficult and unexpected challenge. Maybe it had to do with something at your job or something in your marriage or family. Whatever the struggle, you probably were faced with a tough choice.
Now think about a time when God asked you to take a difficult path. Maybe He asked you to do something hard and unanticipated. Perhaps God told you to serve and love somebody who hates you. Maybe He put you in a situation that was unforeseen and bewildering.
Again, regardless of what took place or why, you faced a choice.
Will you abandon or align?
You can abandon faith.
You can abandon hope.
You can abandon love.
You can abandon your purpose.
You can abandon your God-given mission.
You can abandon your call to lay your life down for others.
You can abandon people, your marriage, family, friends, your community of faith.
Or . . .
You can align with God.
You can decide to follow the Father and trust in Him even when it seems crazy and beyond your comprehension (Proverbs 3:5-6).
You can choose to surrender your “rights” and your demand to understand and simply say, as Jesus did the garden, “Not my will but Yours be done” (Matthew 26:39). Make no mistake about it, Jesus faced a painful choice, and it wasn’t easy, but He chose to align Himself with the Father nonetheless.
Why did Jesus yield?
Because He knew that alignment is always better than abandonment. Always.
It’s not good to be like Jonah, who tried to abandon God’s plan and ended up in the belly of a fish.
A thousand times I’ve faced a choice:
Will I run to God or from God?
Will I surrender to Him or not?
Will I say yes or no to the Lord?
Will I trust Him or trust myself?
Will I insist on my way and hit the highway—going the exact opposite direction God wants—or will I submit my life to His control?
In case you haven’t noticed, there’s no middle ground here. You and I either abandon or align.
It’s impossible to have it both ways.
Certainly we often surrender imperfectly. We may wrestle with our emotions even after we choose to align. And we might not be giddy about going God’s way. (Jesus didn’t dance and whistle on the road to the cross.)
But the path to peace and joy and fulfilling our purpose is surrender.
Abandon or align?
The choice is yours. Please choose wisely.
Jesus is both the pioneer and the perfecter of your faith.
So, keep your focus on the One who chose to
endure the agony and shame of the cross.
Why did He take that path?
Because He knew the end result of surrender to God is always joy.
Hebrews 12:2 (Bubna Paraphrase)
