Trust and surrender

 

As I read the Scriptures for today to prepare for my daily meditation, I admit they added to the anxiety I’ve already been feeling about many things going on in the world today: confusion, the pandemic, rivalry and distrust, and uncertainty about the future.

But upon further reflection I saw the simplicity of John’s letter to the new Christians (2 John 1:4-9), urging them to focus on loving one another and not being swayed by the Gnostics, who denied that Jesus was fully human as well as fully God.  I saw how God’s will does prevail, because what once was a great threat to the Church (Gnosticism) was overcome and vanquished.  And that bolstered my faith, alleviating some of my current anxieties.

“Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will save it.”  (Luke 17:33)

Jesus never fails to say things that cause us to stop and think.  This phrase from the Gospel is one of those things.  He presents us with an apparent paradox.  Trying to save our life will be the cause of our losing it but losing our life will be the way we save it.  What does this mean?

This statement especially goes to the heart of trust and surrender.  Basically, if we try to direct our lives and our future by our own effort, things won’t work out.  By calling us to “lose” our life, Jesus is telling us that we must abandon ourselves to Him.  We must allow Him to be the one who directs all things and guides us into His most holy will.  This is the only way to save our life.  We save it by letting go of our own will and letting God take over.

This level of trust and surrender is frustratingly difficult at first.  It’s difficult to come to the level of complete trust in God.  But if we can do just that, we’ll be amazed at the fact that God’s ways and plan for our life is far better than we could ever come up with on our own.  His wisdom is beyond compare and His solution to all our concerns and problems is perfect.

Jesus warns us not to be totally consumed with the daily preoccupations we all have.  Eating, drinking, marrying, buying, selling, planting, building—these are the “stuff of life”, and they’re not wrong.  But there’s more, much more, beyond those activities.  And on that Truth, the truth that Jesus came in the flesh to lead all souls to heaven, we should reflect and be centered upon each and every day.