Never has there been a time like ours, in which human autonomy has been so loudly proclaimed. We live in the age of the self-made man, a time of rugged individualism, encouraged daily to, “Just Do It!”. And in the background, Frank Sinatra belts out, "I did it my way!"
Once again, we find the popular culture cutting across the grain of Holy Scripture which calls us to die to self so that Christ may live in and through us, truly being Lord of all we do.
My morning devotional time often begins with readings from the Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. One of the prayers that I read this week stated, “Jesus is mine and I am His, given to me as well as for me; I am never so much mine as when I am His , or so much lost to myself until I am lost in Him.”
Take a moment to ponder the line, “I am never so much mine as when I am His.”
The natural man senses that there is a loss of autonomy when we submit ourselves to another. The world, the flesh, and the devil reaffirm this at every turn. On the other hand, the Scriptures affirm that we will never be truly free to be all that we can or were created to be without submission to the one who created us and also redeemed us. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
One old hymn writer put it like this, “Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee, take my moments, take my days, take my hands and feet, take my lips, take my silver and my gold, take my love, these are ever, only, all for Thee.”
Where does the Christian find true freedom? Spiritual, emotional, and physical freedom? In joyful submission to the Lordship of our Savior, Jesus Christ.