Going for Spiritual Gold

Have you been impressed as you watch the winter Olympics athletes? Men and women who are “all in” to achieve excellence in their chosen field. Pushing their bodies to the limits of endurance, and sometimes even past those limits. Being “all in” in utter surrender to the goal of winning a coveted gold medal—recognition of their unrivaled mastery.

Is that also how Christians live out their relationship with Christ? Trying harder? Stretching and straining every spiritual muscle to “get it right” for others to recognize our spirituality and for God’s approval?

For many people, that’s exactly what the Christian life is like. Trying and failing and trying again. Falling down nine times and getting up ten. Pouring everything into efforts to be good Christians, yet all the while feeling exhausted, depleted, and perhaps even a bit of a fraud.

What if we’re confusing strain with surrender?

Strain, Surrender, or Both?

Some think the Bible tells us to stretch and strain our spiritual muscles. They point to Bible verses such as:

• 1 Corinthians 9:24 – “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”
• Philippians 3:14 – “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
• Colossians 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.”

and

• Hebrews 12:1 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”

But the Bible is clear that any effort on our part flows first from surrender. Surrender to the Holy Spirit’s conviction, leading, and equipping. Faith that God equips us with everything we need to live a life that pleases Him, then living out that faith.

Passages written by the apostle Paul help us understand how faith, surrender, and effort work together. Efforts sourced in our own finite strength will ultimately run out. However, efforts that rely on the Holy Spirit’s inexhaustible equipping will never let us down. We will be able to say, with Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).

And it begins with the ultimate surrender: presenting ourselves as living sacrifices. To the church in ancient Rome, Paul wrote, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship” (Romans 12:1 ESV). The King James translation describes this act of spiritual worship as “reasonable service.”

Why is it “reasonable”? Paul shares the answer twice in his first letter to the Corinthian church, when he reminded them—and us—that we’ve been “bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23). So when we offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices, we’re simply offering what He already purchased through Christ’s sacrifice!

Surrender is not a natural response for us. And yet, when we do surrender, the result is an inexhaustible supply of the equipping we need to go for the spiritual gold.

See you at the finish line!