By Brother Matt Henson
When Brother Stanley ministered in India, he identified a struggle within the Indian people. He wrote:
India has always had the genius for addition, she has lacked elimination. She has absorbed everything that has come along, but she has eliminated little, hence her life is burdened and crushed. Life depends almost as much upon elimination as upon absorption. India needs a dynamic power to help her cleanse, to let go (The Christ of the Indian Road, 41).
The struggle of sacrifice and surrender is allowing the new to replace the old. Jesus in speaking about fasting and discipleship encompassed this struggle when he wrote, “Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before” (Matthew 9:16). A battle in our coming to Christ and accepting His teaching as the mandate for our lives, is the tendency to place this new teaching with our previously held beliefs. The problem is some of our old beliefs are not consistent with our new allegiance to Jesus. He wants us to surrender our old belief as we are being made new.
Paul picked up on this same truth when he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” The transformation of our lives requires us to not be hoarders of belief, but to be one’s who are transformed from old ways to the Kingdom of God. We must seek the Holy Spirit’s direction as we measure our long-held beliefs to assure we are building our faith and relationship with Jesus.
The battle we undertake in our evangelistic adventure is inviting people to a life of full surrender instead of simply adding Jesus to the pantheon of beliefs they are holding. Jesus’ call to lay aside our old ways (traditions, rituals, beliefs) to experience the fullness of life in Him, requires us to make our evangelism clear: full surrender without syncretism.
How is God inviting you to eliminate instead of absorb? How is God calling us to invite people to surrender and follow Jesus with a fullness of trust?
Prayer: Lord, I do not want to add a new patch on old fabric; I want the complete newness you have for me. Continue to do your work inside of my life. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
