Holding On for Dear Life

19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” Matthew 16:19(NLT)

by Alexandra Copeland

Jesus Christ said in John 15:19(NLT), “The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” Jesus Christ spoke these words to the disciples at a time near the close of his ministry on earth. He poured into them in an amazing way, and they had an up close and personal view of all the wonderful miracles, signs, and wonders that he did. There is no doubt in any Christian’s mind that Christ loved the disciples with a love unequaled by any human being in history. The disciples knew this as well, and words could not express the loss they must have experienced to learn that he would be leaving them, but our Lord and Savior made sure that they would not linger in a state of shock.

The emotion of missing someone or something that we hold dear to our hearts is a tough one. It is multiplied to the nth degree when you consider that we're talking about our Great Redeemer, the Savior of the World, here. Words are too inadequate to describe how dynamic, loving, and compassionate he was with the disciples and is with us as well; so it isn't a surprise that Jesus Christ prepared the disciples mentally and emotionally to deal with the fact that he was not going to be with them always.

He was all too familiar with human nature, and he knows our propensity to want to hold on to the things we cherish. This 'holding on' causes us to get stuck in neutral. Jesus Christ taught us in Matthew 6:21 that wherever our treasure is, that is where our hearts will be as well. We don’t always treasure feelings and relationships that are healthy, and we are not always conscious of the degree to which we are holding on to them. This is harmful because the things we treasure occupy a good deal of space in the deepest part of our beings, and this is space that should be occupied by God’s love.  

As children of the Most High, our hearts must be anchored in Him. He's our Father, and He has set the agenda for our lives through His Word. Romans 12:1 (NLT) tells us, "And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him."  Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for us, and we belong to God. Heavenly Father wants every ounce of us, no holding back at all. We are to present ourselves to Him, living and holy, because this is the way to truly worship Him. God deserves every good thing that we can offer up, and He didn't leave us guessing on this one. He's told us exactly what is required.

God has commanded that we walk by the spirit. Sometimes we let our emotions get in the way. We identify too much with the flesh side of us and become so distracted with the cares of the world that we forget who we are and why we're here. To surrender and release is part of our DNA as Christians. Any time that we hold on for dear life to emotions, things, and people, we run the risk of stunting our spiritual growth and harming our relationship with God.

God is beautiful. He's love and light, and through Christ He has shared His love and light with us. He’s shared it in such a spectacularly supernatural way that we actually have the distinct honor and privilege to pass it on by what we choose to do and say each day. From His never ending reservoir, blessings and spiritual goodies continuously flow into our beings, and this is the way He designed things to operate. As ambassadors and joint heirs with Christ, we operate out of the overflow. As we empty ourselves in service and love to the body of Christ, God pours more into us. We are created to be a perpetual stream of goodness, replenished constantly by His lavish outpouring. 

The Heavenly Father of the bible is an exceedingly abundant God, and He requires that we trust Him. We must trust Romans 8:28, that all things work together for our good. All things work together so that we continually abound towards higher spiritual heights. Jesus Christ did not want the disciples to lose sight of this. Yes, he would be going away, but he would not leave them comfortless. He would leave them a gift that would help them reach the high mark that God has called each of us to.

This world is not our home; we’re just passing through. We're here to learn to surrender, release, and let go, because this is one of the most valuable lessons of learning to receive from God. Every Christian should know this. We live in this world, but we are not of the world, and the things of this world should not hold us back from worshipping and loving God with our whole hearts.

So many of God's sons and daughters today are clinging too tightly to the past—to addictions, behaviors, relationships, situations, and attitudes that are  no longer serving them well. We do this because we fear that what is ahead of us will not be better than what is behind us or with us now. This is never the case with God. Our future is always bright with Him. Even now, in the midst of all the confusion and chaos in the world, we have the hope of the return of Christ to always keep our minds and hearts in a higher place of rich expectancy.

Jesus Christ wanted the disciples to make a shift, and to have an elevated mind-and-heart-set. He didn't want them holding on so tightly to emotions of sadness that they would miss the bigger picture of why he came to the earth. Of course he understood that they would be sad, but the goal on which they needed to be focused was so much greater.

We are spiritual beings, and as such, we must travel light, but when our hearts are weighted down we cannot do this. We cannot receive more if our arms are already full. God wants us to trust that we can surrender our heartaches, feelings of despair and anger, and anything else that hinders us from fully embracing the wonder of life in the spirit of Christ. We were created to breathe in the splendor of all that God has made available to us, and when we learn to surrender, release, and let go, we'll discover that He'll replenish us in ways we can't imagine. ■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.