Strength in Weakness

For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor. 12:10.

The expression to surrender to God is generally misinterpreted by thousands of Christians. If our concept of Christianity is based on behavior, then the center of our attention will be the Ten Commandments and our hard effort to obey them. If we are 'strong' we will succeed; if we are weak, we will fail.

Behaviorist philosophy never leads a person to convince themselves of their incapacity so that they resolve to surrender to God. The strong behaviorist who apparently has success does not realize their incapacity. The weak behaviorist instead says: 'I am not capable; I give up.' Then they stop fighting and turn away from God just when they are closest to Him.

'The behaviorist believes that surrendering to God means giving up certain things in their life: their sins, their problems, and their weaknesses. Therefore they say: 'I am in the presence of God and this congregation, and I promise that from now on I will not smoke, drink, or dance anymore.' If they are strong, they will not do it again, and they will become a 'good' church member. If surrendering to God essentially consists of leaving some things behind, the strong will succeed and the weak will fail.

I have heard of a number of tricks to abandon sins, that is, to leave some things behind. I have heard of people who write their sins on pieces of paper, which are then collected and taken to the front of the church to a small altar where someone lights a match and burns all the sins. Wonderful! The sins are gone. They have turned to ash. It is a nice psychological trick. The pity is that the weak person who wrote their sins on a piece of paper for the fire to consume goes home and discovers that they are still alive within their being.

There are people who have tried all these tricks, until they finally say: 'I imagine there are people who were born to be fuel in hell, and I must be of that kind.' And they begin to believe in predestination. I would like to clarify what surrendering to God is. It is not putting aside some things. It is abandoning the idea that I can do anything about things, except one: To come to Christ just as I am.