Years ago, I went on a trip with my parents to London. We rode the bus. Amazing. We hopped off. It was raining, I wanted to go one way, they said we needed to go the other. Well, in my stubborn, determined toddler brain I decided that clearly they didn’t understand my way was the best way and so lay down on the wet pavement. Cue the tantrum…

I was not going to yield.

Pets on leads sometimes have a similar reaction. They dig in their puppy paws and refuse to yield to the direction you’d have them go. Especially when it comes to being near a vet. They don’t understand that going in that direction is ultimately for their good and not to harm them.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like I’ve grown out of the desire to determine my steps and go my own way. Romans 6:13-14 (NLT) says,

Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

When you give yourself completely to something, you yield to it. You fully embrace it. You surrender to that thing, or, person. Sin is no longer our master and yet all too often we’re laying down in the rain, clinging onto an idea, a practice, a relationship, a habit that is ultimately going to leave us out in the wet and cold when we have the offer living fully free for God’s glory.

We live under the freedom of God’s grace and that means we have a choice. If you get to a ‘give way’ or ‘yield’ sign on the road and choose not to stop then you’re a mighty crash waiting to happen. We yield for our own good.

Relinquish your grip on the sin that so easily entangles you and instead, “throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time… into God’s way of doing things.” (Romans 6:13 MSG)

Stop lying down in the rain.