A duty to surrender it all
“For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” (NIV) 1 Corinthians 4:7
Hymn: I surrender all
1. All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.
CHORUS:
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
2. All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken; Take me, Jesus, take me now.
It amazes me how I gladly sing this song yet, I have not taken time to really ponder over the words. Now, I feel sad as I write this devotion. I feel selfish to have always taken from the Lord and not given back. Today i see myself as that child who cries for bread and he is given, and when a little of that bread is asked of him, he refuses to give back because he thinks he owns it forgetting that it was bought for him.
1 Corinthians 4:7; “For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” Many people glorify themselves and claim superiority over others because of the things they have or their status in society. This was the case of the members of the church in Corinth; who were glorying in and boasting of the ministers under whom they were converted and baptised to the neglect and contempt of others; when the apostles would have them consider that whatever differences was made them and others was made not by man but by God that whatever good and benefits they had enjoyed were from God and for that matter they ought not to glorify in themselves nor in their ministers but in God who had distinguished them by his favours.
Dear reader, we have no reason to proud ourselves in the things we have. All that we have and is good is owing to the grace of God. Sometimes we do not give because we think we will go in need. There are times too when we want to have all to ourselves. We abuse our positions, we make others look or feel inferior. What have you that you think it is not from the Lord?
Now, we have a duty, a duty to surrender our time, money, our being and all that makes us or is us to support the work of the Lord. May the grace of the Lord continue to be with us.