Surrendering Our Whole Selves to God
Fall Mission Communities • Week of 9/27
In the Gospels there is a famous story of a young man who does not become Jesus’ disciple. This young man was eager to meet Jesus, was eager to learn what he must do to inherit eternal life. In Mark 10 we read that he was faithful in keeping many of the commandments. Jesus told him there was one thing he was lacking: “go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” At this, the Rich Young Ruler turned away, saddened, knowing he would never give everything in order to follow Jesus.
The story of the Rich Young Ruler is often shared and discussed as a lesson about our relationship to money, wealth, and status. While it is certainly that, it is also a story reminding us that the calling to be followers of Jesus is one that requires our whole selves. For most of us this process of discipleship, or sanctification, takes a lifetime. While there are times in our lives where Jesus’ calling for change is immediate, like with the Rich Young Ruler, most of the time it is the soft voice of the Spirit, over time, calling us into a deeper relationship with Him that reveals the parts of ourselves that we have not given over to the Lord.
So what part of your whole self is the Holy Spirit asking you to give over to Him? What is Jesus asking you to change in order to follow him?
That really is the question as we move into a series within our Mission Communities exploring how our emotional health impacts our relationship with Jesus. Our emotions are one of those aspects of our self that often get overlooked, especially when it comes to our discipleship to Jesus. It is far easier to understand how following Jesus should change our behaviors, beliefs, and actions. But it is not as clear and obvious that the transformation of a new life in Christ should impact our emotions and feelings. And yet, because our emotions are such a large part of what it means to be human, what it means to be ourselves, our Lord demands that we give that part of ourselves over to Him in order that he may heal and transform each one of us.
How do we know if we are emotionally healthy or unhealthy? How do we know if our emotional well being is holding us back from becoming the mature followers of Christ that the Lord has intended us to be?
Honestly, that is a question that will only be answered as we move through this fall together in our Mission Communities. We believe this is an important moment to focus on emotional health because this has been a truly traumatic season for so many. In the midst of the pandemic many of us have experienced fear, anxiety, disrupted rhythms, financial insecurity, isolation, and even the death of loved ones (due to COVID and otherwise). These stressors have revealed the weaknesses within many of our lives, areas that Jesus wants to heal and transform that in a normal moment we are able to hide.
Perhaps it is obvious how you may be emotionally unhealthy, but for others it may not be so obvious. Pete Scazzero is an author and a pastor who, in the book Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, offers ten common symptoms of what he describes as emotionally un-healthy spirituality:
Using God to run from God
Ignoring anger, sadness, and fear
Dying to the wrong things
Denying the impact of the past on the present
Dividing life into “secular” and “sacred” compartments
Doing for God instead of being with God
Spiritualizing away conflict
Covering over brokenness, weakness, and failure
Living without limits
Judging other people’s spiritual journey
Some of these may feel convicting to you, but this may also just be a starting point as you begin to explore your own emotional health as a follower of Christ. Over the next few weeks let's lean into this together and discover what God may have for us as we begin to surrender our entire selves over to his healing love and transformation.