YIELD
“Neither yield ye your
members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto
God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of
righteousness unto God...Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants
to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness.”
Romans 6:13, 16
Yield. Give way.
It is to allow another first place.
It is to give up power, rights and control. Yielding as an instrument means to allow your
rights or power to be used by another.
Isaiah 10:15 points out that the instrument (axe, saw, rod, staff) has
not the power to work without the power of another. I just love that idea. I am nothing more than a tool in His hand,
but I have to be willing to yield to His direction!
As
born-again, raised from the dead, servants of God we are to yield every member
of our body to the use of righteousness.
We are to be tools in His hand.
We can do nothing of eternal value outside His power. Indeed, we are not
even able to enter salvation, much less this greater attitude of
sanctification, without the power of one greater.
Christ
set the example. Philippians 2 says He
humbled himself and became obedient. He
yielded His glory and power to the will of the Father for our salvation. This was a conscious choice on His
behalf. He did not have to give up his
glory, but He chose to lay it aside for the good of others.
Yielding
is a choice that we too must make.
Without yielded-ness we cannot be fully used of God. We are like a rusty trumpet with valves that
can’t be pumped or a frozen lock that won’t yield to a key. We are stubborn and hard. We are un-mouldable clay.
We
must not only choose to yield, but we must also choose to whom we will
yield. The verse gives us two choices –
unto sin or unto obedience. Both hold
consequences. The part that has always
spoken to me is the phrase, “..to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey,
his servants ye are to whom ye obey…” It
shows me that I am not alone in my choice.
There are influences vying for my attention. It also shows me that I am the one that makes
this choice. God doesn’t force me and
Satan cannot make me. I choose my
leader. I choose to whom I will yield,
and that choice makes me servant unto a master – a tool in his hand.
To whom are you yielding today?
YIELD
“Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby.”
Hebrews 12:11
It may seem strange, but I really like this
verse. The promise is so real to
me. Correction is not fun or joyous, but
if we yield to it, it will produce peace and rightness in our lives.
For me, growing up brought meant being
exercised by chastening many times. It
seemed I was always in trouble, always being reprimanded. I used to come home from school expecting my
mother to be at the door ready to administer some sort of punishment. It was not fun. It made me a rather nervous child.
But the other side of the coin was the
happiness that I knew when I was obedient.
When I did choose to follow instruction, or I managed to make a right
decision, there was such joy in knowing I had done right. Seeing the happiness on my parent’s faces and
feeling that warm satisfaction in my own heart was really good.
God deals with his children in a similar way. He isn’t waiting behind the door with a
stick, but He is watching what we do and all the while trying to instruct us in
the right way. If we persist in
disobedience, then He will administer an appropriate punishment to bring us
back into line with His Word and will.
It is a sign of His love that he cares enough
about us to teach us obedience. And, it
is a wonderful thing to stand before the Heavenly Father and know His smile and
feel that warm satisfaction in our hearts when we know we have been obedient.
How about you?
Are you obedient? Is God trying
to get your attention through some sort of correction? It is better to yield than to rebel.
YIELD
“And some fell among
thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.”
Mark 4:7
This
is a portion from the Parable of the Sower.
The Seed, which is the Word of God, is cast about for every man to hear
and with each man there is a response.
Here we see the seed cast among thorns.
It takes some sort of root in the heart, but the roots of the thorns are
so deep that the life of the good seed is choked out.
It
yields no fruit in the life of the individual.
As
we read in verse nineteen of Mark four, the thorns are representative of the
cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of our own
hearts that actually choke the Word and keep the seed from being fruitful.
How
do these thorns choke the seed? First,
they demand attention – the cares of the world.
There are so many responsibilities in life - children, jobs, marriage
and finances. All of these demand our
time and unless we are diligent, they will take priority over time in God’s
Word.
Second,
thorns counterfeit the influence of the truth – deceitfulness of riches. As Satan did with Eve, they make themselves
look good, question God’s Word and lull us into a false security. Riches, the Bible says, will take wings and
fly away. They cannot be depended
upon. They actually obscure our vision,
all the while claiming to be the sole end of joy and satisfaction. If we live only for riches, we will come to
true poverty.
Third,
thorns are overwhelming – the lusts of the heart. The masses on the broad path are walking
alongside us every day, and we can be influenced by their mere presence. The
secular idea of the world and its constant pursuit for pleasure vexes the soul.
It is like always hearing a voice in your ear saying, “You are missing out on
the fun by following God. Why not let up
a bit and join the party?” Thorns can reduce us to compromise and eventually
giving up.
We
will yield no fruit if we allow these thorns to overtake us. Good intentions will not take us far
enough. There is power in the thorn and
we need to live aware.
Are
you feeling vexed by the influence of the world? Are you choking? Are you being tempted to yield? To “follow your heart”? What do you need to
do to change your situation?
YIELD
“And other fell on good
ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased;
and brought forth,
some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred.”
Mark 4:8
The
good soil is soft and yielding. It is
deep and clean, ready to receive the seed and to allow the roots to grow. The fruit produced is abundant and lasting.
What
is the fruit? Initially, it must be the
receiving of salvation, and afterward, spiritual results like: obedience,
righteousness, holiness, consecration, self-denial, and usefulness. The Fruit of the Spirit is another
description: love, joy, peace, temperance, etc.
Such fruit is the main proof of spiritual life and growth; it is the
natural produce of good soil and good seed.
How
does this fruit multiply? First, like
the seed, it is hidden in the heart. Then, just as the mystery of the seed, it
is the power of life by the action of the Spirit doing the invisible work in
the heart.
Spiritual
life follows spiritual laws. God appoints the growth; He carries on a heavenly
process in the conscience and heart that yields increase. It is a gradual and progressive action where
God, like a faithful husbandman, waters every moment and attends each seed with
heavenly carefulness. He gives the increase as we yield to His tending.
In
time, and by His Spirit, the secret working begins to be seen by all around. Like the life cycle of a plant - our
attitudes change, our focus is refined, our usefulness becomes apparent and we
are growing in Christ and producing spiritual fruit. Truly…it is a lifelong process.
Are
you growing in Christ? Is change and
spiritual growth happening in your heart?
Is your fruit apparent? Are you yielding
to the husbandman?
YIELD
“But do not thou yield unto
them…” Acts 23:21
Paul’s
nephew has revealed the murderous plot of the Jews against Paul. Following Paul’s instruction, the young man
is brought to the chief captain and he gives warning for the captain to not
comply with the request of the Jews, to not yield unto them.
By
his bravery, Paul’s life is spared and he is taken by night safely to
Antipatris.
This
usage of the “yield” means to be persuaded by.
Persuasion is
a very powerful tool. It can be used for
ill or for good. Proverbs records, “With her enticing speech she
caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she seduced him.” (7:21)
Here the harlot is using speech to persuade the simple to come into her room –
to yield to her. II Corinthians 5:11
states, “Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” Agrippa said to Paul, “Almost thou persuadest
me to become a Christian.” Acts 26:28
In each of
these examples one person was trying to persuade another toward an action.
We are
constantly faced with attempts of persuasion. Satan comes as that little devil
on our shoulder whispering in our ears, he tries to feed us persuasive thoughts
to sway our motivation and actions. He
wants us to yield to his sinful plot.
The Holy Spirit comes striving to convince (persuade) us with the truth
of the Word. His goal is our yieldedness
to God.
The warning
is for us to consider who and what is trying to persuade us. What will be the result of yielding? What is the ulterior motive? What are the consequences or cost to our
lives?
To whom are
you listening? To whom are you yielding?
No comments:
Post a Comment