Lose Nothing Giving All

“He lost nothing giving all to God”
~ Andrew Murray
 
This statement screams at our consciousness and it contends with our inclination toward self-preservation. I am making my way through Humility, a book written by Andrew Murray. Three chapters in, the author drops this bomb and I’ve been wrecked by it ever since. This one sentence unearthed feelings and ideas and lies that I have lived over for years. This one sentence revealed my pride. The concept of losing nothing in giving all seems ridiculous because common sense estimates that if I give all, then I have nothing. And because we have been conditioned to this rationale, we hold on to what we have in an effort not to lose all we have. Naturally, that makes all the sense in the world. However, this statement speaks of Jesus and his humility.
As a Christian, my life is a daily process of being transformed from the patterns (or systems) of this world and its ideas. The challenge is working through the tension of the transformation that happens in our mind as it is being renewed. And the cause of that tension is the impulse to hold on to what is familiar, what we have known to be true, while desiring what is Truth. We contend in this way because we’re progressively coming into the knowledge of absolute truth. Jesus, who is our example, who is absolute truth, walked in a habitual posture of humility.
Jesus understood the importance of humility as a primary necessity. Speaking of humility, Andrew Murray writes, “It is not a something which we bring to God or He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and in which we make way for God to be all.” That may be too weighty of a statement for some of us. To perceive ourselves as nothing, having nothing in or of ourselves, and allow God to occupy that space that is usually full of us is a hard shift to make.
But what if, in response to this insight, we opt to pour out our substance, our education and accomplishments, material possessions, even our failures and our fears – the things we have allowed to determine our value. What if we gave God everything, emptied ourselves of ourselves and permitted God to be all in our lives? That would certainly poke at the bear of our pride, wouldn’t it? Observing Jesus and his humility exposes mankind and our pride and it highlights the stark difference of mind and motive between Jesus and us. The central focus of His mind and motive was always the will of God.
The apostle Paul encourages us to emulate this same energy in Philippians, expressing the sacrifice and the rewards, of which both are great. So then, let us pursue a life of humility, being mindfully influenced by God’s will, counting ourselves entirely nothing, losing nothing giving all to God.

Reference Scriptures:
Romans 12:2
1John 2:6
Philippians 2:5-11

With this blog, my desire is to encourage, equip and empower you to live and create on purpose. If you’d like to connect or want prayer, email me; I’d love to hear from you!