Dangerous Surrender

"Much is required from those to whom much is given." Luke 12:48

A couple weeks ago, I started the book Dangerous Surrender by Kay Warren. I am only on the third chapter, but I have read and re-read those three chapters numerous times. I want to get this...really get this.

Her writing has gripped my heart, brought me to tears, and left me speechless. I struggle even now to describe the impact I felt from it.

I have spent evenings pouring over this book (literally pouring tears) only to set it down at last and notice the questioning look of my husband from across the room. At one point, he asked me if it was fiction. The solitary word "No" was all I could get out. The other night he picked up a mascara-filled tissue crumpled up on the couch. "Reading that book again?" He asked. "Yep..." I said. I could find no other words.

I am still struggling to find the words...

Last Sunday I sat through church with tears streaming down my face. I am convinced our Pastor is reading this same book. Or God is just that good. Quite possibly both. As he spoke, these paragraphs below echoed over and over in my head. I barely got to the car before flipping through the books pages to read them again.

It's very easy for us to remain aloof and untouched by the suffering that defines the existence of the vast majority of people on this planet. I have read that if you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the people in this world. If you have any money in the bank and some in your wallet and some spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8 percent of the world's wealthy; 92 percent have less to live on than you do. If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million other people in the world. If you can attend worship services at church without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.

I don't tell you this to make you feel guilty - but I do hope you feel uncomfortable. I hope these statistics disturb you. God in his sovereignty decided where you would be born and allowed you to live in a place that has almost everything anyone could ever desire, so there is no guilt that he has ordered our lives in such a way. The only guilt we bear is the guilt of ignoring the men, women, and children of this world who do not have what we have – the guilt of spending the majority of our time, money, and resources exclusively on ourselves and our families. That is legitimate guilt.

I have no idea what God is doing, but there is a familiar unrest stirring in my soul. There are things in my life that God is calling me to surrender. My prayer is that my desire to obey will be matched by my actions. I want to say "yes" no matter what. Lord, help me do it.