surrender

Jarring Change

Nope, this isn’t a financial post. Although that’s a good subject too. This week I’m writing about change. Okay, timeout. The picture is of a jar of change, and you’re writing about change, but you’re not writing about money? Exactly, and consider reading this an investment. Stop!

If you’re like me, you come home with some extra coins. None of us like standing in line, and the extra time it takes to fish change out can require some patience, both from ourselves and maybe the other folks in line. “Did you say 38 cents? Okay, here’s a quarter, a dime, and three pennies. Wait, I want to use the rest of these pennies. Make that a quarter, a nickel, and one two three four five six seven… Oh, shoot. Do you have a penny?” As Charlie Brown would say, “AAUGH!” Or maybe you just like saving your change. Sort of a rainy day or vacation fund. It all adds up, and voila! One day you have some real money.

But this is about another kind of change, the change God begins in us from the moment we begin to follow Jesus. You may have heard, “God loves you just as you are, but he loves you too much to leave you that way.” While that may be true, the changes he puts us through are not always big ones. He made you, after all, and he knows sometimes the best and most lasting changes we can make are incremental ones. Dropping small habits might represent a few coins. A bigger issue might be worth half a jar! While you may be going through a season of painful change, or a relatively quiet time, it’s worth remembering you never have to go through it alone. Jesus, your advocate, knows you better than you know yourself, and he will see to it that the changes you go through will never “break the bank.”

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV

Our relationship
with Jesus Christ,
is not predicated
on our ability
but on surrender
of sin gravity
that holds us down

All glory and honor
to the Spirit
that empowers
our journey
that nourishes
and refreshes
our souls

© Joel Tipple 9/21/2019



Not Too Far From Grace


I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 ESV

For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
John 1:17-18 NIV

If you think your sin’s too great
and God can’t look you in the face
all he sees is Jesus
you’re not too far from grace

Works alone won’t take you home
to stand before his throne
Changing power’s God’s to give
if you’ll claim it

You’ve never been too far from the Father
the cross has followed you all these years
Not a moment’s been wasted
searching for his presence
God would never
let you drown in your tears

The more we cling to each promise
you have given
and surrender to your loving face
the more unified and sanctified
you make us
and this all due
to your astounding grace

“If people do not like the doctrine of grace, give them all the more of it.”
Charles Spurgeon

©Joel Tipple 9/7/2019

Surrender

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20 ESV

Going a little farther, He fell with His face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39 NIV

The reason some of us are such poor specimens of Christianity is because we have no almighty Christ.  We have Christian attributes and experiences, but there is no abandonment to Jesus Christ.
Oswald Chambers

God, I don’t wish to be
my own sovereign.
Rather, I pray that
You will reign in me.
The life I lived before
I lived for myself only.
A cup filled up with me
will always be empty.

Shape my enthusiasm
so that it’s like
the character of Jesus,
a testimony to
the author of my faith.
I won’t consider finding the finish,
having run alone
a worthy race.

I don’t need to understand
everything You have planned,
but between Jesus, man, and myself,
I choose Jesus.
I’ll step forward in faith
leaving all for His name,
praying to God that it pleases.

© Joel Tipple 3/2/2019
Author of “Written in the Light.”

Stand Up

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24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Matthew 16:24-27 ESV

My friend,
the message to men
has been
a man holds his ground
and never gives in.
But if you want
release from strife,
a relationship with
the author of life,
and the living water’s
sender…
brother,
you’ve got to
stand up,
stand tall
and surrender.

To stand up and surrender
is to know you’re not the center.
You don’t have to pretend you’re tough,
playing the paper tiger.
It takes a stronger man
to hand the reins to God
to risk ridicule and rejection
when the world finds you odd.
But the world can’t own you
if you’re already sold out
and no one has a better corner man
when you’re fighting life’s bouts.

© Joel Tipple
326

Come to Me

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28) “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30) For My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Matthew 11:28-30 New American Standard

Your yoke, Lord,
Your discipline,
is not so difficult.
But the surrender of our wills
seems to be the field of challenge
we most often find ourselves engaged on.
Why do we hold so tightly to what does not serve us
or the Lord we claim to serve?
Surrender is a challenge,
but we seldom recognize holding back for the anchor it is,
or surrender for the freedom it represents.

© Joel Tipple