Surrender in Faith
True life is the offering up of what we are to do our best for Him who has called us.
Mary Wilder Tileston, in the sermon 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,' emphasizes the importance of self-surrender to God's will, as seen in Mary's immediate and complete submission to her divine calling. Tileston highlights the need for our thoughts, actions, and will to be obedient to God's leading, keeping our hearts fixed on His love and not quenching His presence within us. She challenges believers to offer up their entire selves to God, embracing responsibilities and unknown possibilities with a habit of conscientious obedience and a desire to give their best to the One they love.
Text
Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.
LUKE 1:38
OH, let my thought, my actions, and my will
Obedient solely to Thy impulse move,
My heart and senses keep Thou blameless still,
Fixed and absorbed in Thine unbounded love.
Thy praying, teaching, striving, in my heart,
Let me not quench, nor make Thee to depart.
GERHARD TERSTEEGEN
WE can see plainly how her ready self-surrender in faith, in trust, to her unknown, her mysterious destiny; how her instant expression of entire self-oblation to the Divine Will, to all that she was called to be and to do, to bear all that might in the future be required of her, is a constant witness of the mind that ought to animate and pervade the whole action of the soul. Life, if true, should be always the offering up of what we are, to do our best for Him who has called us. The responsibilities, the ventures, the conscious obligations which press on the soul, with all their conditions and unknown possibilities, supply the question that is to be solved; but the true response is the result of a habit formed through countless, nameless acts of conscientious obedience, which by use have become the bright and cheerful exercise of the one purpose of giving its best and purest to One most fully loved.
T. T. CARTER
Sermon Outline
- The Call to Surrender
- The Mind of Surrender
- Living a Life of Surrender
- Offering Ourselves to God
- Conscientious Obedience
Key Quotes
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” — Mary Wilder Tileston
“Let my thought, my actions, and my will obedient solely to Thy impulse move,” — Mary Wilder Tileston
Application Points
- We should strive to develop a habit of conscientious obedience to God's will.
- Our purpose is to give our best to God and fulfill His will.
- Surrendering to God's will brings a life of purpose, joy, and fulfillment.