CHRISTIANITY’S GREATEST BLESSING — AND ITS GREATEST CANCER

WE BRING EVERYTHING TO THE CHURCH EXCEPT OURSELVES.

When Jesus confronted the Jewish religious order of His time, He exposed a terrible contradiction.

There were ceremonies, offerings, traditions, prayers, and outward expressions of devotion to God. Yet Jesus confronted religious leaders who neglected the heart of what God required.

They brought the outward expressions of religion.

But where was the surrender of the life itself?

Now look at Christianity.

We bring our prayers, our worship, our churches, our traditions, our declarations of faith, and our celebrations of Jesus Christ.

But have we brought ourselves?

Have we actually laid down our lives and given them entirely to God?

Or have we simply brought Jesus into the lives we have chosen to live?

Have we mastered the very failure Jesus confronted?

Consider your own life. Answer these questions honestly—not about somebody else, not about another denomination, but about yourself.

DOES YOUR LIFE REFLECT A GENUINE WALK WITH JESUS CHRIST?

Do you worry? Do you call it your worry?

Why? Do you own your worry? Do you own tomorrow? Do you own your circumstances?

You own none of these things. A genuine walk with Jesus Christ means surrendering what you have been trying to control and giving this day to God.

Do you drink alcohol or use drugs?

Ask yourself whether these choices reflect the life of goodness, purity, and surrender you claim to be pursuing through Jesus Christ.

How do you dress?

Would you dress that way if you were standing before Jesus Christ, fully conscious of God’s presence? Are you presenting yourself with dignity and purity, or are you seeking sexual attention from others?

What does it mean to give your life to God if you continue to let the standards of the world determine how you present yourself?

What do you watch?

Do you watch whatever you want on television or the internet in the name of entertainment? Is it filled with violence, horror, degrading content, sexual stimulation, or pornography?

Have you ever stopped to ask whether what you willingly consume belongs in a life surrendered to Jesus Christ?

Do you treat your body as a temple of God?

Or do you put whatever you want into your mouth in pursuit of flavor, pleasure, and entertainment?

Have you considered what it means to exercise restraint, to fast, to spend a day drinking only water—or to undertake a longer fast when appropriate and safe?

Do you understand why a person seeking God might voluntarily set aside food and other comforts, quiet the demands of the body, and turn more completely toward God?

Do you support violence as a means of resolving the world’s problems?

Do you support war, military violence, guns, and ammunition without seriously examining whether those choices are compatible with the life Jesus calls us to live?

Jesus said that those who take the sword will perish by the sword. How can we claim to pursue the kingdom of God while refusing to confront the place violence occupies in our lives and our world?

Do you believe you will never be good enough because you are only human?

We are created in the image and likeness of God. To use our humanity as a permanent excuse for refusing to pursue goodness and purity is to sell short the very dignity with which we were created.

We are not being asked to claim that we are perfect. We are being asked to take seriously the life God calls us to live.

These questions are not about appearing religious. They are about whether our choices reflect a life genuinely offered to God.

And none of us gets to escape them by pointing to someone else’s failures.

THIS IS WHAT SURRENDER MEANS

We do not own this day.

We do not own our lives.

We do not own our worries, our sickness, our losses, our circumstances, or our future.

Nothing is ours to possess as though we were the ultimate authority over our lives.

This is the path of unconditional love: to stop insisting that life must belong to us and to give ourselves entirely to God, pursuing goodness and purity in the way we live.

It is not enough to bring our prayers to church and then return to a life governed by our appetites, our preferences, our fears, and our desire for gratification.

It is not enough to proclaim Jesus as Lord while continuing to act as though we are the lords of our own lives.

The Jewish religious order Jesus confronted could maintain outward religious observance while failing to live the heart of God’s commandments.

Christianity must confront the possibility that it has repeated that same failure on a global scale.

We have brought everything to the church, everything to our faith, everything to our declarations of belief.

But have we brought ourselves?

Have we given God the one thing He is asking us to surrender—our lives?

THERE IS NO MORE HIDING FROM THE QUESTION

This is not an invitation to judge other people. It is a demand that we examine ourselves.

If you claim to follow Jesus Christ, ask yourself whether you are actually living that commitment.

Not perfectly. Not by merely following a list of rules. But sincerely, with a willingness to surrender what stands between you and the life God calls you to live.

Do you want goodness and purity—or do you want the freedom to pursue whatever pleases you while retaining the comfort of your Christian identity?

Do you want to give your life to God—or do you want God to fit into the life you have already decided to live?

These are not abstract theological questions.

They are questions about what you do today.

This course leads to a crash. We are already living in its consequences.

The time has come to stop making excuses, stop postponing surrender, and stop treating the demands of Jesus Christ as though they were optional.

I AM NOT THE BOSS. GOD IS.

I DO NOT OWN THIS DAY OR THIS LIFE.

I GIVE IT ENTIRELY TO GOD.

I AM HERE TO CULTIVATE GOODNESS AND PURITY.

This is the choice before us.

We can continue to bring everything to the church except ourselves.

Or we can finally put our lives down and give them entirely to God.

THE CALL IS NOW. VICTORY IS OURS.

If this message challenges you, do not dismiss it simply because it is uncomfortable.

Examine your life. Ask God for the willingness to surrender. Begin with this day.

You do not need to wait for somebody else to change.

You can begin now.

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Free membership provides access to a weekly message of encouragement and to our library of messages and resources.

The purpose is simple: to stop merely professing the life Jesus calls us to live—and begin living it.

Give this day to God. Pursue goodness and purity. Put your life down.