Question: Mr. Albrecht,

How do you surrender to God? How do you submit to His will? How are we led by the Spirit? I’ve been trying for YEARS. I see improvement, but I never feel a great difference. I don’t expect to be perfect at all, but I would like to feel a sense of significant growth. I listened to the first of your 6-part series on the radio today, starting with love, and I fall short on all of them. I know I can’t give up, but I get so discouraged and wonder is this just a dream or can I really change – or should I say, be changed? It has to be me because God and Christ are perfect. What am I doing wrong?

Alexandra

Answer: Dear Alexandra,

The dilemma of truly surrendering our lives to God and repenting of our own self will, and submitting to God’s perfect will for us is a life-long challenge for Christians. This problem is simply a manifestation of the human condition – the fact that we are broken, sinful and imperfect. We have this treasure in jars of clay, says Paul in Corinthians. Christ lives his life in us, we have the new life in Christ – in jars of clay – in this tent that is our fleshly body, that is corrupted, and corruptible. There is nothing eternal about this flesh, but at the same time, those who have trusted in and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior have been given eternal life – we have "crossed over" from death to life (John 5:24).

We are not free from sin as long as we are in this flesh – this statement is not a justification for sin, but rather the biblical truth about our state while we are in this flesh. Paul talks about his struggle with sin in Romans 7:7-25 – and John talks about the same topic in I John 1:5-10 – both these passages prepare us for the Answer – for the fact that our salvation comes from Christ, and is in him.

Our salvation is not about us – it is about Jesus Christ. While we may not see change or growth, he will bring forth that growth in his way and in his time.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht