Only in the context of the great encounter with Jesus Christ himself can a real authentic struggle take place. The encounter with Christ does not take place before, after, or beyond the struggle with our false self and its ‘demons’. No, it is precisely in the midst of this struggle that our Lord comes to us and says, ‘As soon as you turned to me again, you see I was beside you.’ … Only in the context of such grace can we face our sin; only in the place of healing do we dare to show our wounds; only with a single-minded attention to Christ can we give up our clinging fears and face our own true nature. As we come to realise that it is not we who live, but Christ who lives in us, that He is our true self, we can slowly let our compulsions melt away and begin to experience the freedom of the children of God.
~ Henry Nouwen
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Colossians 3
Oh beloved, it is true. The surrendered life is not really our life at all. It is His. And there is no way to find this life – this wholly other way of being – if we remain in the seat of power of our existence.
Fear not. You will not lose yourself.
The big voices of our times tell us that we need to increase the self-esteem of our children. We need to tell them how special they are. We need to affirm each and every little one about how unique and beautiful they are. And while all of this is true, we find that the effects we hoped for, are not working in the kids we pour into.
The problem is deeper. It goes to the core of who we really are.
If we are willing, we can see it. But the truth is painful. It goes against the “precious snowflake” gobbledegook we have been fed and told we need to feed to others. Said bluntly, there is nothing good inside a man. We are broken and sick and dying.
Oh, it is not that there is no potential. Actually, the potential is so amazing that it is nearly infinite. No, the problem is that the potential has to be released. And as long as a person’s ego is sitting at the center of our being, there is no way that the potential is going to be realized.
For, the ego is a tremendous, no, gargantuan gravity well. It wants to suck everything it can towards itself in the mistaken hope that it can feed its own need and the huge amount of power it takes to run a human life successfully. And it can’t feed either. The ego is a black hole of pain from which nothing but bitter radiation escapes.
Something has to move. Us.
Can we see it? There is a reason that Jesus wants the throne of our lives. And the issue is not to dominate us with His Lordship. Scripture is clear that our King doth desire friendship and not slaves. No, He wants the throne of our lives, because He knows that the ego must be freed from its own sense of self-importance if it is to ever gain any real sense of identity.
However, once we abdicate the position of center-stage in our own life, something amazing really does begin to happen. We begin to experience what we had always hoped. We find now, at the center of our being, a Power Source which is more than adequate to meet our needs and release the potential we always hoped was there.
Said more simply: He frees from our bondage to our tiny little selves, that we might become a whole lot like Him.
Whole
Real
Strong
Loving
Wise
Kind
Noble
Free
So, are you feeling like your own life is sucking you dry? Perhaps it is time for you to move off of center-stage in your existence. Trust this fool of a writer, a few steps down off the dias are all you need to find the power you have truly needed to pull this off.
Tonight is your night beloved. Time to surrender.
