THE LIFE YIELDED — WHAT? (1)

We have seen what yielding is — the transference of the ownership and control of the life from self to Christ. But self will relinquish nothing except under compulsion. So, it is necessary to understand at the outset just what the full measurement of a yielded life is.

May we clear the atmosphere by saying what yielding is not? It is not mere subscription to a creed; nor is it a giving of oneself to a certain kind or field of service; nor is it merely stripping the life of certain evil or questionable practices. How many a person has said, “I am afraid to yield myself wholly to the Lord for I know He will make me believe something I can’t believe, or will ask me to go somewhere that I do not want to go, or will rob me of something that I want to keep.” To such, yielding is altogether a negative thing while in reality it is essentially positive. God wants us. It is the whole of ourselves that He asks us to yield to Him that our whole life may be lived unto the will of God.

Romans 6:13

“Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

2 Corinthians 8:5

“And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God.”

1 Peter 4:2

“That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”

Then God specifies the measurement a bit more explicitly lest we be satisfied merely with “the saving of our soul” or “the giving of our heart to the Lord.” It is the easiest thing in the world to use the phraseology of consecration while missing the reality of it. It is possible to deceive ourselves by surrendering the invisible and intangible thing while holding on to the visible and tangible. So, God asks for the body as well as for the spirit and soul. Read again Romans 12:1.

God leaves no loophole in this matter of yielding. He knows full well how the beauty of a life may be marred and its testimony nullified by the unyieldedness of even one member of the body. Who can read the epistle of James and not know that many a life fails of complete surrender through an unyielded tongue? What possibilities for covetousness through an unyielded eye? What paths of wickedness and worldliness are open before unyielded feet? What a catchall for gossip, slander, and idle talk is an unyielded ear! What a loss to God in His service is an unyielded voice! God specifies the measurement of surrender, and it reaches out to include every member of your body. “Yield your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.”

“Yourselves” “Your bodies” “Your members”

It is all-inclusive. Nothing is omitted, and nothing is exempt. God has sanctified our whole personality. He has set it all apart as His own personal possession and for His own use. Our consecration is the counterpart of God’s sanctification. God has taken us to be His own: He has said, “Thou art mine.” We yield ourselves as those belonging unto Him and sanctify Christ, as Lord, in our hearts and say, “Lord, I am Thine, what wilt Thou have me to do?”

1 Thessalonians 5:23

“And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Peter 3:15

“But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord.”

Source: “Life on the Highest Plane” by Ruth Paxson

Lord, it’s all of me, or nothing!!