Clay in the Hands

Last night I couldn’t sleep.  So I got my earbud headphones and listened to the Jesuit devotional, Pray As You Go, devotional for yesterday.

The reading for the day was the story of a man who wanted to know what he needed to do to get to heaven.  Jesus pointed out that he needed to keep the commandments.  The man replied that he had been doing that since birth.  So Jesus responded with the instruction that the man must sell all he had and give the money to the poor and then come follow him.

The account says the man went away grieving because he had many possessions.

Listening to this reading did not help with my inability to sleep, in fact, it gave me something else with which to wrestle.  As I laid there pondering the story, I was reminded that following Jesus is really about surrender.  In order to truly follow Jesus, pleasing him and living as he lived must be our first priority.

This is a daily struggle.  I have mentioned this before but the problem with being a living sacrifice is that we have the ability to constantly crawl off the altar.  Daily we must commit to surrendering our desires to Jesus and taking on his desires as our own.  I can say that over time this becomes a bit easier, but don’t let anyone ever tell you they have it mastered!

So what is Jesus asking you to surrender to today?