Yielding all . . .

 

 

When I go into an art supply store, an emotion often grips me that is something like a hungry person feels in front of a buffet. The artist in me wants to grab up the paints, brushes and canvases and get back to work. I once put food on the table selling my paintings and after Christ entered my life, I sold art to support missions.

However, a day came when He asked me to quit. Others might question that decision, but I knew this was His WILL and YIELDED to it. Only later did I understand and some of that understanding is described in Galatians 4. It uses an OT story to illustrate a spiritual truth

“For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. But the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while the son of the free woman was born through promise . . . .  But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now . . . .

Galatians 5 goes on to apply this to the conflict between the old nature called the ‘flesh’ and the new nature that walks in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. It says:

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”

It seems from the OT covenant that God intended that the natural or fleshy person should be transformed into a spiritual person by obedience, but sin made that impossible. No matter how anyone tries to do the will of God, that “I will do it my way” interferes. Without the Spirit of God, doing anything God’s way is out of reach. The NT is clear that sin made it necessary for Christ to die and the flesh or the natural nature to be sacrificed along with Him.

Romans 12:1–2. “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. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

This means that whatever skills, abilities, and talents I have must be yielded to God. He may use them for His purposes or He may not. Obedience to the will of God is vital for only He knows what will accomplish His purposes. For me, painting pictures did it for a short time, but then He directed me to do other things.

Oswald Chambers says, “Some of us are trying to offer up spiritual sacrifices to God before we have sacrificed the natural.” In other words, had I decided to paint in service to God without clear direction from Him, I would have been operating in the natural, the fleshy old nature. Chambers adds that sanctification means more than deliverance from sin. It is the deliberate yielding of myself to God. Because I belong to Him, I should not care what it costs or have any say in what He asks of me. Instead, I must rejoice in the privilege of serving Him.

Galatians 2:20–21. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Yielding to God cannot happen without trusting Him completely. Some team-building groups use that ‘fall backwards trusting your partner to catch you’ exercise — and trusting God can sometimes be just like that. However, keeping my focus on who He is, His faithfulness, His promises, and how much He shows His love for me makes yielding to His will possible. A major part of that focus is hearing the words of Jesus in Gethsemane as my example: “Nevertheless, not my will but thine be done.”