When the American South declared
its independence from the North, it decided that it was its own sovereign
nation. It printed its own money, elected its own president, and
established its own capitol. In establishing the Confederacy, the South
committed treason and broke the Union of the United States. The resulting
war cost more lives than any other American war. Then, finally, when the
South reached the end of its resources, the Confederacy surrendered to the
Union at Appomattox. With this peace accord, the war was over.
Yet, there were still battles fought even after peace was made.
Because news did not travel fast, men died in defense of a Confederacy
that no longer existed. Even once news was broadcast everywhere that the
Confederacy was dead, rebel flags continued to be flown. Throughout the
South today, the Stars and Bars fly in defiance of the North. Though the
war is over, the South has never forgotten. Though official peace has
been made, the way of the rebel still remains.
When humanity declared its
independence from God, the resulting war broke the union between heaven and
earth, claiming untold souls. Yet, in his own blood, Jesus drafted the
peace treaty that broke down the dividing wall of hostility. Through
Jesus, the war is now over. Sin has been defeated. Peace has
officially been made. Yet that doesn't mean that those who are ignorant
of this peace have quit struggling against heaven. Some, those who have
never received the news of peace, continue to fight as if in a war.
Others, those who have raised the white flag of surrender, still
occasionally replace that banner with the battle flag. These little
rebellions have no eternal effect, because they cannot undo the peace enacted
by the cross. They can, however, impede our witness as people of peace.
Being like Jesus means practicing the art of surrender. This surrender becomes the way of atonement.
In
the garden of Eden, Adam became the model of brokenness and our need for
atonement. In the garden of Gethsemane,
Jesus modeled surrender as the way of atonement. In Adam’s fall, the first man demonstrated
rebellion against God. In Jesus’
submission, the Savior displayed surrender as the path to union. Surrender breaks down the dividing wall of
hostility so that God and humanity become one.
Jesus shows that surrender is the way of peace. He calls believers to live a life of
surrender as well.
Perhaps nothing models this surrender more than Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane. Mark 14:35-36 says, "And
going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were
possible, the hour might pass from him. And
he said, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this
cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will'.”
Today, make that your One-sentence prayer: "Not what I will, but what you will." By practicing surrender, we find atonement, at-one-ment with God.
