“Holding nothing back” in God’s Word is a two-fold principle for living the abundant life Jesus teaches. First, it is complete human surrender to God (Romans 12:1-2) as an offering to God. The second is to trust God’s promise to provide all good things to the faithfully surrendered who choose to walk humbly with God daily. (Psalm 84:11). A surrender life is a blessed, it is well, life with God who helps us grow in His love and care. Troubles and trials in this world will come and go; but a surrendered life to God trusts God to help us not only to overcome those trials but to grow exponentially through all the tests!
Holding nothing back signifies total trust, offering one’s life, possessions, and obedience without reservation because we know without a doubt that all we have and care for was given by God who owns it all.
Holding nothing back includes loving generously with God’s love in us—the same God who so generously gave to us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17
Loving God’s way means holding nothing of our love back from someone else as well as holding nothing of our love back from God. God’s love in us judges less and loves more—without conditions. God’s love extends branches of mercy and grace. Micah, the prophet of God, sums up what God requires of us as believers;
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 NIV
God’s requirements of seeking His righteous ethical living, extending His love and compassion, with a daily humbled commitment of surrender to God are components for living the abundant life with God! We can easily sing “It is well” with my soul loud and long when we surrender all to Him! Trials will come and rattle our faith but cannot penetrate our love for God or His love for us. God holds nothing back in His love for us.
“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”Romans 8:38-39
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Psalm 37, The Message
1-2 Don’t bother your head with braggarts
or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
In no time they’ll shrivel like grass clippings
and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.
3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed,
settle down and stick to your last.
Keep company with God,
get in on the best.
5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back;
he’ll do whatever needs to be done:
He’ll validate your life in the clear light of day
and stamp you with approval at high noon.
7 Quiet down before God,
be prayerful before him.
Don’t bother with those who climb the ladder,
who elbow their way to the top.
8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath,
cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.
Before long the crooks will be bankrupt;
God-investors will soon own the store.
10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it;
you’ll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!
Down-to-earth people will move in and take over,
relishing a huge bonanza.
12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys,
obsessed with doing them in.
But God isn’t losing any sleep; to him
they’re a joke with no punch line.
14-15 Bullies brandish their swords,
pull back on their bows with a flourish.
They’re out to beat up on the harmless,
or mug that nice man out walking his dog.
A banana peel lands them flat on their faces—
slapstick figures in a moral circus.
16-17 Less is more and more is less.
One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,
For the wicked are moral weaklings
but the righteous are God-strong.
18-19 God keeps track of the decent folk;
what they do won’t soon be forgotten.
In hard times, they’ll hold their heads high;
when the shelves are bare, they’ll be full.
20 God-despisers have had it;
God’s enemies are finished—
Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time,
vanished like smoke in thin air.
21-22 Wicked borrows and never returns;
Righteous gives and gives.
Generous gets it all in the end;
Stingy is cut off at the pass.
23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God;
his path blazed by God, he’s happy.
If he stumbles, he’s not down for long;
God has a grip on his hand.
25-26 I once was young, now I’m a graybeard—
not once have I seen an abandoned believer,
or his kids out roaming the streets.
Every day he’s out giving and lending,
his children making him proud.
27-28 Turn your back on evil,
work for the good and don’t quit.
God loves this kind of thing,
never turns away from his friends.
28-29 Live this way and you’ve got it made,
but bad eggs will be tossed out.
The good get planted on good land
and put down healthy roots.
30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone,
rolls virtue around on his tongue.
His heart pumps God’s Word like blood through his veins;
his feet are as sure as a cat’s.
32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous,
he’s out for the kill.
God, alert, is also on watch—
Wicked won’t hurt a hair of his head.
34 Wait passionately for God,
don’t leave the path.
He’ll give you your place in the sun
while you watch the wicked lose it.
35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad,
croaking pretentious nonsense.
The next time I looked there was nothing—
a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.
37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul,
scrutinize the straight life;
There’s a future
in strenuous wholeness.
But the willful will soon be discarded;
insolent souls are on a dead-end street.
39-40 The spacious, free life is from God,
it’s also protected and safe.
God-strengthened, we’re delivered from evil—
when we run to him, he saves us.
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
We learn to surrender all we have been given to the Giver of Life.
God holds nothing back of His faithful love, mercy, and grace.
May we respond with humbled surrender to Him.
Run to God who saves us.
Believe in Jesus, His Son who demonstrated God’s love as He surrendered His life to redeem our lives. Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead to proclaim the hope of eternal life for all who believe.
Repent of all sins and receive the help of God’s Holy Spirit to “go and sin not more”—to leave the old life to live the new abundant life with Jesus.
Tell the story of Jesus so that others will know how to lose the old to gain the new life of salvation! Hold nothing back in the telling!
Then live the “it is well”, holding nothing back, life that God promised as we walk humbly with Him.
Lord,
Help us.
In Jesus Name, Amen!
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 