Are You Awake - Part Two

 Living Out the Pledge of Life

 

            We began our walk with God when we confessed our need for Jesus and pledged to surrender our life to him. But we often fail to notice that our pledge to surrender our life to Christ isn’t itself the life we pledged to surrender. The life we pledged to surrender is the life we’ve lived each and every moment since we initially made the pledge to surrender our life. For the only life we have to surrender to Christ is the one we live moment-by-moment.

            Think of it like a marriage. Thirty-one years ago I looked into my wife’s gorgeous eyes and pledged my life to her. But my pledge wasn’t itself the life I pledged to her. My pledge didn’t magically give us a good marriage (would that it were that simple!). Rather, the actual life I pledged to my wife was the life I have lived each and every moment since I made that pledge. The only life I have to give to my wife is the life I live moment-by-moment.

            The quality of my marriage, therefore, isn’t decided by whether I made a pledge thirty-one years ago. It’s determined by how I live out that pledge now. The same is true of our relationship with Christ. The important question is not, Did I once surrender my life to Christ? The important question is, Am I surrendered to Christ right now? For the only life we have to surrender to Christ is the life we’re living this moment.

 
            Unfortunately, many Christians seem to have a “magical” understanding of Christianity that leads them to assume their life is surrendered to Christ because they once pledged to do just that. They pray a “sinner’s prayer” and think that this somehow—magically—means they have a real relationship with Christ. But it doesn’t, any more than making marriage vows magically produces a loving relationship between two people.