keep nothing for yourself

“It's easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.”

Clayton Christensen

"Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again."

Michael Jordan

This past Sunday someone came forward for prayer in our church.
It was a request I have not been able to get out of my head.

The gist of it was this:

“I came to New York with a passion to give into sexual sin and temptation. I did that for a couple of years, but a while back Jesus called me out of my sin to himself. I have consecrated my sexuality to Jesus, but there is this last little 2 percent I want to give to him, it needs to be put to death.”

The last little two percent. 

It made me wonder if there were small little sins lingering under my larger surrender. 

Was I holding back my own 2 percent?

Abba Anthony (of the Desert Fathers) gave an illustration of the need to hold nothing back in our lives with God. 

A brother renounced the world and gave his goods to the poor, but he kept back a little for his personal expenses. He went to see Abba Anthony. When he told him this, the old man said to him, 

“If you want to be a monk, go to the village, buy some meat, cover your naked body with it and come here like that.” 

The brother did so, and the dogs and birds tore at his flesh. 

When he came back the old man asked him whether he had followed his advice. He showed him his wounded body, and Saint Anthony said, 

“Those who renounce the world but want to keep something for themselves are torn this way by the demons who make war on them.”

This is so true. 

Those un-surrendered parts, those parts we keep back, can be access points of temptation, distraction, and spiritual sabotage.  

I am joining my brother at the altar this week and asking God to kill the final 2 percent of sin in me.

Clayton Christensen, the former renowned Harvard Business School professor once said, “It's easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.”

There is so much lost energy in the 2 percent. 
So much wrestling, so much decision fatigue, so much pressure moment by moment. 

But total surrender leads to total peace. 

All the energy given to resisting sin can be given to building the life we are called to.

Are there any areas of your life that you need to bring to the altar?
Any small sins hiding under your larger commitment?
Anything you sense the Lord asking you to lay down?

Why not take a moment and follow the wisdom of King David, the wisdom of the spiritual MRI.

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.
See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 

Andrew Murray wrote a prayer I have been praying in light of a full and total surrender.  

“Father, may the Holy Spirit have full dominion over me: in my home, in my character, in every word of my tongue, in every thought of my heart, in every feeling towards my fellowmen; may the Holy Spirit have entire possession.”

Entirely possessed by holiness and love, now that’s a compelling vision.

See you at the altar with whatever you have been holding back.

Cheers

Jon.