THE MAN GOD USES – CHAPTER VII – Oswald J Smith

THE SURRENDERED LIFE

WHEN I talk about Surrender I like to be definite. It sometimes pays to go into detail. And so I am going to be very plain and simple in order that you may have no hazy idea as to what I mean, for the Surrendered Life involves the laying of everything on God’s altar.

1. Self .

What would a man think of a young woman who in response to his appeal offered her lover lands and houses or anything else she owned! Would he be satisfied? Not for a moment. He is not asking for her possessions; he is asking for herself. Nor will any substitute satisfy. And so it is with Jesus Christ. He wants us body, soul and spirit. Hence, we must first of all lay ourselves on the altar, and say, “I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord. To India, Africa or China. To be a missionary or a minister. I’ll forsake all and answer Thy Call.”

” Take myself and I will be ever, only all for Thee.”

2. Loved Ones. Having placed myself on God’s altar, I now bring my loved ones, my son or daughter, my father or mother. If the Lord wants my child for the foreign field He may have her. If He demands that I leave father and mother, I obey. Even if He should choose to take my loved one to Himself I dare not murmur. “Thy will be done.”

“Why am I not happy?” inquired a wealthy lady as she stood beside the great missionary, Dr. Jonathan Goforth, of China, in her home.

“Have you surrendered all?” inquired the man of God, quietly.

“Yes, so far as I know, I have surrendered all,” responded the woman. “Are you sure,” insisted Dr. Goforth, “that your all is on the altar?” “My all is on the altar, I believe,” answered the woman again.

“And you would be willing for God to take your little girl here and send her to China?” asked the missionary, placing his hand on her head.

“God take my daughter and make her a missionary in China! I should say not. I want her here with me,” exclaimed the mother.

“And yet you tell me you have surrendered all, and you haven’t even given your own child to God. How can you expect God’s peace and blessing? You stand as it were between God and His will for your daughter, and you say to Him, “Thus far shaft Thou come and no farther. You can have my home; You can have my money; You can have me, but— don’t touch my daughter.’ Madam, do you call that surrender?

3. Talents.

Our talents were never given to be used for ourselves. God’s gifts are to be invested for Him. What right have we to use them selfishly? Once we catch God’s vision, never again will we use our talents along worldly lines. You may have a talent for elocution, oratory, speaking. The question is: How are you using it? Is it simply for the purpose of amusing and entertaining? Or has it been in vested for God? You may be gifted in writing. But what and for whom are you writing? Is it for the world, or for God? Are you writing for money or for the Kingdom? It may be you have been given the talent of making money. But remember, “It is God that giveth thee power to get wealth.” ⁷¹  Then for whom are you making money? For yourself or for God? Or your talent may be that of song. God has given you a voice. Are you using it in concerts to please your friends? Do you sing the songs of the world? Or, can Jesus Christ proclaim His message to burdened, sin-sick souls, through your talent of song? Frances Ridley Havergal sang:

“Take my voice and let me sing Always, only, for my King.”

4. Time .

“Redeeming the time.” What a responsibility! What are we doing with our time, our spare hours? Do we invest it for God or use it for selfish pursuits that don’t count? Somehow we seem to have time for everything else in the world, time to eat and time to sleep, time to shop and time to talk, time for the newspaper and time for our visitors, time for pleasure and time for work, but no time for God, Do we spend our time entertaining our friends, providing expensive dinner parties, and whiling away the hours in idle talk? Or, do we live as pilgrims and act like sojourners? Are we different from the world? Are the precious hours given to conversation about Himself, and the interest of the Kingdom? Thus will it be when the Holy Spirit comes. Let us stop, and begin right now to practice what we sing:

“All for Jesus 1 all for Jesus! All my days and all my hours.”

5. Money.

Not a tenth, but all. Everything we own belongs to God and we are only stewards. Then it behoves us to watch how we spend it. Does it go for luxuries or for missions; for non-necessities or for the evangelization of the world? Do we spend it on ourselves to gratify our selfish desires, or is it held and used in God’s work? Are we simply banking it to leave to someone who is quite able to take care of himself? Or are we investing it as God’s steward in the souls of men? Do we build homes far larger than we need? Are we paying $100 per month rent, when we could manage equally as well in a house that would only cost $60? No wonder we have nothing for God! Oh, but the reckoning day is near. The accounting time will come. I would not like to meet Him with a large bank account. That would be a terrible calamity. He expects me to invest it somehow “before I die, for Him. Not, “How much of my money will I give to God,” but, “How much of God’s money will I keep for myself?” Some day He will call us to account for our stewardship. Our money, then, must also be placed on God’s altar.

” Take my silver and my gold, Not a mite would I withhold.”

Well, now, will you lay your all on the altar? Are you ready to yield, to dedicate, to consecrate everything? Oh, that you would take this initial step! Be definite. Make a whole- hearted surrender of your life to God. Hold nothing back. Yield up your will and accept His. Have no plans of your own. Go where He wants you to go and be what He wants you to be. All your cherished hopes, all your personal ambitions— give Him yourself. There can be no substitute for your act of surrender. You must pay the price. No compromise is possible. Abandon your life to God. He requires an empty vessel. How can He fill it if it is already full? Can a room be full of pure air and foul at the same time?

A BLANK AGREEMENT

It is a question of signing a blank agreement. Put your name down at the bottom and let God write in the terms and conditions of the agreement after. He will only put down one step at a time and when you take that the next will be made plain. Trust Him, then, to plan your life and to fill in the agreement after you have signed it.

It means that you sail under sealed orders. Where, you do not know. When, you cannot say. Why, is not your business. How, must not concern you. It is yours to accept from Him the sealed orders containing His great blue print for your life, and to open and read them just when and just as much at a time as He wills.

AN ETERNAL “YES”

It is saying an eternal “Yes” to God. An eternal “No” to self and “Yes” to Him. And it must be so final that it holds good all the rest of your life. “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Where wilt Thou have me to go? He dictates and you obey. One great, final, eternal, glorious YES, and the question is forever settled, Then just keep saying “Yes” all along the way.

” Lord, I give myself to Thee,
Friends and time and earthly store;
Soul and body Thine to be
Wholly Thine for evermore.”

_____________________

71 Deuteronomy 8:18