Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

This is the passage read in the pastor’s sermon. Here are my notes from that verse.

“All we are is His, a given self is being lost in Christ.”

Let me first say that the pastor did not say or preach that. I cannot say that any one specific thought gave birth to that note. Over the years I have been impressed with things like the worship song, I Surrender All, Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highness, and even secular imaging of “Lost in Your Love”. What might have happened is a composite of truths that were summarized in just one moment.

I give it to you to understand it from your own experience. Your depth of experience with love will be different than mine. It is not better or deeper or more profound than anyone else. It is yours. I can tell you what it means to me, they are my notes. Only you can take a verse and make it personal.

I will be the first to admit that surrendering yourself to another is scary. You feel out of control. If you have control issues you may find that difficult if not impossible. I dare say that when most of us come to Christ the last thing we are thinking about is surrender. I was in pain and I just wanted the pain to stop. At that particular moment in my life I wasn’t thinking about love.

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

It is not a coincidence that this verse appears right after the bibles best description of how love acts.

1 John 4:18a There is no fear in love;

Being lost in Christ is not a fearful thing.

Isaiah 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

We who are in Christ, why do we not expect to be treated as the Lord was treated? Man will say one thing to our face but do another when we are not looking. How do we react when we learn the truth of their abuses? I will not speak to examples here. You can choose for yourselves how you feel and react. I want to point to what the Lord did in the very next verse.

Isaiah 29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

A marvelous work and a wonder is what the Lord did. He confounded their expectations. He did not react as man reacts, He is better than that. Conventional wisdoms say that man reacts in the manner you are probably thinking about. They are confounded, their understanding hidden, because the Lord has a better way to deal with abusers.

Matthew 5:44b pray for them which despitefully use you

This does a few things within your own reality which will help you deal with the abuse. Number one, when you take the high ground there is a protective advantage for your soul. Further attacks upon your soul become more difficult. Number two, it places the reactions to events in the heavenly realm where the Lord is better able to exact a just resolution to those event. Number three and perhaps the most beneficial for us is obedience of faith. This is what the Lord has asked of us and with obedience of faith comes a clear conscience and a peaceful mind.

I understand it isn’t natural, but can be practiced. Practice makes perfect.