I Found My Life When I Laid it Down
What is a life without Christ? I used to think I knew. Hillsong’s Touch the Sky reflects on the transformation that takes place when we surrender our life to Christ.
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” –Romans 12:2 (NIV)
We climb the societal ladder claiming labels along the way. We think those things will make us happy, but we’re disappointed when we realize these labels cannot fulfill our hearts. In other ways, we look for wholeness. We may criticize our spouses because of everything they aren’t doing because we think we’d feel better if they did. Or, we criticize ourselves and make plans to lose weight or buy something we think will fill us up. Our unending cycle of searching only stops when we find God. Being a part of the Kingdom of Heaven is where we find true love and wholeness that the world can’t give.
“What fortune lies beyond the stars
Those dazzling heights too vast to climb
I got so high to fall so far
But I found heaven as love swept low”
My husband’s addiction was the catalyst to my pursuit of Christ. Something that was meant to harm us actually led us. At the time, I thought it was a death sentence for our marriage. I always knew our lifestyle wasn’t going to last forever, but I did nothing. I waited. I held on to that life as long as I could, but I’m not sure why. It took desperation for me to seek Him, and it wasn’t just a one-time thing. I had to fall harder than I ever thought I could and still survive. I thought I was living, but I was wrong.
“My heart beating, my soul breathing
I found my life when I laid it down
Upward falling, spirit soaring
I touch the sky when my knees hit the ground”
There is something beautiful about destruction. When the breaking of our hearts allows the pain and shame to pour out, it is here, at the foot of the cross, that we find our greatest strength – Jesus. This is where transformation begins.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
-Galations 2:20 (NIV)
Life begins when you surrender to Christ. Sometimes the word “surrender” is associated with giving up, but it’s the opposite. Surrendering gives us a new strength, an unworldly strength. Surrendering allows us to start over. As humans, we read and research trying to find proof of God and heaven, but all along its right in front of our face. Being able to watch God transform the hearts of others is being able to witness a miracle.
Do you look back on your life before you gave it to Christ and see a different person? So many people wander through life looking for something to fill them. I did. My husband did. My faith in God stems from this transformation.
“What treasure waits within Your scars
This gift of freedom gold can’t buy
I bought the world and sold my heart
You traded heaven to have me again”
Like the addict, we’ve bought the world and sold our hearts. In our worldly ways, we choose worldly things over and over again, yet He is always waiting for us to come back to Him.
When our loved ones relapse and go back to same thing that broke them, He is with them. It makes me think of the picture of the addict with a needle in his hand with Jesus holding him from behind. I think about my husband and all the times he’d just used and was alone, or so he thought, drowning in shame not knowing that Jesus was with him, holding him, crying for him and wanting to free him from his demons. God has seen his darkest moments. Living a life bound by chains isn’t living. Jesus doesn’t care who you are. He wants to set you free. He wants to give you life.
“Find me here at your feet again
Everything I am, reaching out, I surrender
Come sweep me up in Your love again
And my soul will dance
On the wings forever”
And every time our loved ones fail, He waits for them. And every time we hurt, He hurts too. There is nothing we can do to lose His love. Let us praise Him for his perfect love and forgiveness. Please Lord, show us how to love like You.
