“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, this is your true and proper worship.”
Romans 12:1 (NIV)
When Jesus was nailed to a cross, He couldn’t move His arms or legs. While immobilized, the only motion available to Him was to look up, and in His heart, He offered Himself and his will to the will of His Father.
Long before Jesus gave up His physical life, He surrendered his spirit, as an ascent of His will to the will of His Father. We have the same opportunity to surrender and ascend in our spirit, to the will God, saying,
“You Lord, know what is best for me, I ascend and submit to your will.”
Many things can happen, which leaves a person immobilized in some sense, by a situation, where all that is left to do is surrender themselves to God. It could apply to any situation that makes a person feel locked out and helpless.
It might be someone serving a prison term, though falsely accused and completely innocent, or a person who has lost their job or ministry as a result of a false accusation by a false witness. Jesus would understand, since He was falsely accused, and unjustly sentenced, yet He surrendered His spirit to the will of His Father.
When a person is critically ill, lying in an intensive care unit, unable to move, walk or talk, connected to a ventilator, in some mystical way, they feel nailed to their ICU bed as Jesus was nailed to the cross. There may be no other option except to offer their bodies as a living sacrifice, and ascend in spirit to the will of their Father.
I think of my son, Jon, whose traumatic brain injury has kept him from understanding others, or to speak and express what he is feeling, which probably leaves him feeling locked out of the world, in a sense, due to his brain injury. Until he makes more progress, his only choice is to ascend in his spirit and surrender to the will of God.
Unlike the spiritual ascent of the soul to the Father, which happens in death, ascending in spirit, is a journey of total surrender to God during life. In some situations, the only option a person has is to yield body, mind and spirit to God, in total reliance on His love and mercy, until He steps in and touches them.
Something like that seemed to happen yesterday, while visiting the NH. Jon was sitting with us at the table and I took his picture while he was smiling, and then showed it to him. In the past three years, Jon never responded to any photos that I showed him, but yesterday was completely different.
He stared with intense fascination at the photo of himself. He took my phone in his hand, and kept smiling, looking at me, then looking at the photo, as if amused. So I showed him other photos, of his twin brother, his niece and nephew, his grandmother, and even his childhood photos. Each time, he took my phone in his hand and looked intensely at every photo, fascinated and smiling as if he recognized each person for the first time. Everyone could see Jon’s new response and I was totally amazed.
It was as if a part of his brain was turned on and he just woke up. Then he began wiping tears from his eyes, becoming moved emotionally by his reawakened memories.
Despite his many neurological disabilities and limitations, in some way, Jon ascended in his spirit to God, who woke up one small section of his memory, and rewired facial recognition in his brain, through the treasure of family photos.
The Lord, who is our healer and the One who restores what was once lost, has opened up a small section of Jon’s memory, and only God knows what is next for him.
Lord, thank you for opportunities to surrender ourselves to you, and for the miracle of your healing in every heart, body and mind that ascends in spirit to you. Amen
