THE LIFE YIELDED – WHY (2)?

Then let us define yielding. Yielding is the definite, deliberate, voluntary transference of the undivided possession, control, and use of the whole being, spirit, soul, and body from self to Christ, to whom it rightfully belongs by creation and by purchase. In yielding to Christ, we crown Him Lord of all in our lives. “Consecration does not confer ownership; it presumes it. It is not in order to be His, but because we are His, that we yield up our lives. It is purchase that gives title; delivery simply gives possession. The question is not, ‘Do I belong to God?’ but ‘Have I yielded to God that which already belongs to Him?'” (J. H. McConkey, The Surrendered Life, p. 17).

In a city in northern China, there was a girls’ school. The number of students grew, necessitating more buildings. Adjoining the school were just the buildings needed, the property of a Chinese family. After much bargaining, a sale was effected. The papers were drawn up and the purchase price paid. In the autumn, the school was expected to open for work in the new buildings. But they were unable to do so. Why not? The Chinese family had not moved out. Purchase gives title, but only delivery gives possession.

Christ has the title deed to your life. The price was paid nearly two thousand years ago. It is His by the right of purchase. Have you moved out so that He may move in and occupy what He already possesses?

Christ has the right to exempt you from His property; He is Lord, and He has the right to command you to yield. But Christ’s way is to constrain by love rather than to conquer by force. So, He beseeches us by the innumerable mercies of God, of which we are daily the recipients, to yield ourselves to Him.

Romans 12:1

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Yielding is the glad, joyous, willing response of love to love. “We love him because he first loved us.” Bought with a price,

“therefore” we gladly glorify Him in our body and spirit, which are His. “I beseech you” — I have given My life in death for you; will you not give yours in life for Me? True yielding is the utter abandonment of love. It is the call of the Bridegroom, “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away,” to which the Bride joyfully responds, “I am my beloved’s and his desire is toward me.”

Oh, my friend, does this not take the “must” out of surrender for you? Does it not answer the question “Is it safe?” Have you thought only of yielding in light of what you would have to give up? To yield does involve giving up, but it means giving up what is not truly yours; it means giving up something only to gain something of infinitely greater worth; yes, it means giving up something He needs for His use to the One we love best; more than all, it means giving up something to the One who loves us with a love so great that He died for us and now waits to bestow upon us all the exhaustless treasures that are ours in Him. Can we not trust “the Man who died for us”?

Romans 8:32

“He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?“

1 Corinthians 3:21-23

“Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; whether Paul or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours; and ye are Christ’s; and Christ is God’s.”

“Surrender taken alone is a plunge into a cold void. When it is a surrender to the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me, it is the bright homecoming of the soul to the seat and sphere of life and power.” 

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

Lord, how can I retain what does not belong to me? You purchased me with Your precious blood. Thank you for Your constraining love which compels me to give my all to You.