I wrote a few week’s ago on “Surrendering to God’s Plan” and, as God would have it, I was (unrelated reasons) reading through some notes from a book I had read and came across this wonderful quote:
Mr. Henry Varley challenged D.L. Moody that, “the world has yet to see what God will do with and for and through and in and by a man who is fully consecrated to Him.”
D.L. Moody reflected on what Mr. Henry had told him: “He said ‘a man.’ He did not say a great man, nor a learned man, nor a smart man – but simply ‘a man.’ I am a man, and it lies with each man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I decided I would try my up most to be that man.”
There’s nothing wrong with being smart, skilled, gifted, or anything else.
But there is something wrong with feeling like those things could ever be enough on their own.
Because they’re not enough.
Which is probably why God often calls people without many of those things as Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 1:26-31:
“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians 1:26-31
God can obviously use any gifting, position, wealth and whatever else He has given you.
But He will use you far more when you are surrendered to Him.
Period.
So, what would happen if we let go of our high esteem of those things,
And instead, focused on a simple and complete surrender to Jesus.
To His will,
His plan,
His way.
What would God will do with and for and through you and I if we were fully consecrated to Him.
As D.L. Moody realized:
“I am a man, and it lies with each man himself whether he will or will not make that entire and full consecration. I decided I would try my up most to be that man.”
Will you choose to be that person who gives up their life completely to God?
Will you and I get to see what God will do with and for and through and in us if we become fully consecrated to Him?
I pray that we do.
Because I can’t imagine anything else more worthwhile.