The Complete Donation of Our Being

“I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.” (John 17:4)

One of the aspects of Jesus that is so remarkable is how fixed He was on accomplishing God’s will for His life. He seemed utterly indifferent to how others spoke of Him. He didn’t seem to care whether followers stayed with Him—at times, He seemed to deliberately test their loyalty. More than He cared about how individuals responded to His evangelistic entreaties (He often let people walk away—see my book, When to Walk Away); and more than He cared about whether He would suffer pain or not, Jesus cared about accomplishing His Father’s will. That was His passion, His singular focus: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.” (John 4:34)

Jean-Pierre de Caussade (18th century) says that our highest duty is the “complete donation of our being to God to be used according to his good pleasure.”

I love that phrase, the “complete donation of our being.” What part of this donation might we be holding back?

Here are two areas of our lives we can look at during the season of Lent.

First, our obedience. Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s first words were “repent” (c.f. Matthew 3:2 and 4:17). Their first message was, before you begin a new life, you must die to the old. Sin isn’t just corrupt; it is corrupting. When we accommodate sin, it grows. Lent is a good time to resist our sinful drift and renew our love for holiness.

Take some time and go through the list in Colossians 3:5-9:

“Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other…”

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