Salvation does not mean merely deliverance from sin or the
experience of personal holiness. The salvation which comes from God
means being completely delivered from myself, and being placed into
perfect union with Him. When I think of my salvation experience, I think
of being delivered from sin and gaining personal holiness. But
salvation is so much more! It means that the Spirit of God has brought
me into intimate contact with the true Person of God Himself. And as I
am caught up into total surrender to God, I become thrilled with
something infinitely greater than myself.
To say that we are called to preach holiness or sanctification is to
miss the main point. We are called to proclaim Jesus Christ (see 1 Corinthians 2:2). The fact that He saves from sin and makes us holy is actually part of the effect of His wonderful and total surrender to us.
If we are truly surrendered, we will never be aware of our own
efforts to remain surrendered. Our entire life will be consumed with the
One to whom we surrender. Beware of talking about surrender if you know
nothing about it. In fact, you will never know anything about it until
you understand that John 3:16 means
that God completely and absolutely gave Himself to us. In our
surrender, we must give ourselves to God in the same way He gave Himself
for us— totally, unconditionally, and without reservation. The
consequences and circumstances resulting from our surrender will never
even enter our mind, because our life will be totally consumed with Him.
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