Repurposed Day 10
Effective Surrender

1 Samuel 10:17-24
1 Samuel 15
1 Samuel 9:21
2 Peter 1:1-11
 
At Gracefully Truthful, we value authentic transparency and believe it’s the lifeblood of living in community with each other as we follow closely after Jesus. So, here’s my authentic transparency: I struggle with arrogance.

Not the, “I’m so much better than you” mentality.
Nor the, “my way clearly is the best; there’s only room for one”.
(okay, I struggle with that side too…)

But, honestly, my arrogance struggle is much more insidious.
I don’t feel like I’m good enough.

Arrogance? You ask.
Yes.
While I’m sitting around obsessing about how I’m not enough, don’t bring enough to the table, aren’t effective and useful….I’m only thinking about myself.

Don’t believe me?
Check out this guy:

The soon-to-be-king missed his own inauguration, hiding in the baggage.
You can almost hear the voices in his head, “I’m not enough to be king. I can’t do this job. I’m not smart enough, talented enough, good looking enough…..other people would be so much better at this”
and so he hid.
in the baggage.
trying desperately to mask his insecurity.

But God could see his heart.
And it was arrogant.

Saul’s insecurity, his unwillingness to find identity in his God instead of focusing on his own inabilities, was his fatal flaw. This arrogance that said God was not big enough to use him, was his Achilles heel, haunting him his whole life and effectively ending his reign in ruined shambles. Saul’s insecurities, his shame, his fear, they flooded his heart, overtook his life, and eventually left him drowning in pride, direct rebellion, and ugly justification for sin.

Enter guy number 2:

This would be king, unlike Saul, really didn’t have much going for him. He was very young, had a long line of eligible brothers in front of him, and had always been the bottom of the barrel growing up. If anyone had emotional baggage, David could come up with some pretty good stuff to hide behind.

But he didn’t let that happen.

Instead of arrogance, David chose surrender.
He surrendered to how he was made and took confidence in it.
Rather than smolder around, faking piety, he leaned into exactly who he was. Proudly, yet without swagger or arrogance, David knew exactly what his abilities were, what his strengths were, and he wasn’t afraid to appropriately talk about them.

But David said to Saul,
“Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ And David said, “The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”

One king was weak, faking humility by focusing on how he was not enough, and ended up utterly destroyed.
One king was strong enough in mind, body, and heart to surrender himself entirely to the Lord and left a legacy of being a “man after God’s own heart.”

There’s a secret to success here.
And it has nothing to do with our abilities, our looks, our bank account, our health, the people we know, or anything else we may feel is either “enough” or “not enough”.
It entirely hinges upon faith.

Surrendering to Christ and His sufficiency is the most effective way to live this Jesus-life. Surrender.
In the middle of our everyday weakness.
In the middle of our insecurities,
the middle of our fear,
our shame
our hopelessness,
and a million “not enoughs”.

“Make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,
and virtue with knowledge, 
and knowledge with self-control,
and self-control with steadfastness,
and steadfastness with godliness, 
and godliness with brotherly affection,
and brotherly affection with love.
For if these qualities are yours and are increasing,
they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful ….
for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.”

Surrender to faith in Jesus.
Pursue Him.
He will build into you His Own Effectiveness for the kingdom!

But, go ahead, listen to those voices in your head.
Hide behind that baggage.
Succumb to the lies and choose to not engage your gifts the Father gave you.
Destruction awaits, my friends.
Pride will paint the walls of your heart any color you want them,
but in the end, it still leaves you destroyed.

Choose to live life effectively within the Body of Christ.
Stop saying no to work in the Kingdom!
Jump in to all you’ve been called to.
Let your confidence rest in Christ.
“for if you practice these qualities you will never fall!”

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