Sharing vs Surrendering

I recently read a devotion on sharing vs. surrendering that has really stuck with me, so I wanted to share it with you, since I think it has so much to do with the way we approach our homes. Here’s the snippet that really grabbed me:

The un-surrendered life is the same thing as the unplanted seed—a waste. Why on earth would we go another day holding on to the tiny seed of our life. It’s time to sow our small, fragile selves into the field of God’s dream for our lives.

What if the little boy had shared his five loaves and two fish with the crowd? How far would it have gone? Exactly nowhere. Instead, look what happened when he surrendered all he had to Jesus. Precisely unimaginable. We think the Gospel is about sharing our lives with others, as though a seed could be shared. No, it’s about surrendering our lives to Jesus, who will make of our lives an unending, unimaginable gift to the world. Sharing will never get it done. Only surrender will.

When it’s put that way, doesn’t the idea of “sharing” our homes or lives with others seem like we’re holding something back? Doesn’t it seem like a silly thing to do, when we could surrender our home and life to God who will most certainly do with them more than we could ever imagine?

Sharing

But what’s the difference? What does sharing and surrendering look like in our lives? I think that sharing is often done on our own terms.

Sharing says “God, someone can come live with us, but only if they’re tidy and polite and fun to be around.” Sharing says “God, you can do what you want with my money as long as it’s within 10% and I get the other 90% to spend on my house and clothes and family.” Sharing says “God, I’ll befriend that hard-to-like person, but I’m only going to give them the time that’s leftover after I’ve done all the other activities in my life that are more important or fun.”

Sharing makes us feel like we’re good people, when in fact we’re really putting limits on how much of our lives God can take.

Surrendering

But surrender? That’s a whole different story. Surrender says “God, take my house, my money, my family, my career, my reputation, my life, and do with it as you please. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.”

Surrendering is hard and uncomfortable and scary, but it’s right where God wants us. To surrender our life is to plant our tiny little seeds and see them grow into something bigger than we ever thought possible.

Surrender requires sacrifice, while sharing just requires being nice. I can be nice, but can I sacrifice? Will I?