The Power of Yielding

"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." Romans 6:13

Each day I go through life I consciously or unconsciously yield to many things. Some things that I yield to are for the good and some things are to my hurt. There are times I yield to faith, compassion, love and mercy but there are times I find myself yielding to offense, anger or disbelief. Yielding is simply ceasing resistance to something. If I am yielding myself to the lack of faith then I am finding myself to be resisting the scripture "That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." If I am yielding to weakness and fear then I am resisting the scripture, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear: but of power, and of love, and a strong mind." When I find myself yielding to offense then I am resisting the verse "And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me." Am I really shining the light of Jesus to my harvest field if I do not yield myself to the scripture "The Lord is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy."  When we yield to unforgiveness and holding a grudge we are resisting the scripture "But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses."

Life is really full of yielding and resisting. Today what am I going to yield to? Will I choose to yield to annoyance and scorn when I see a mother with a screaming child at the store? Or will I yield to compassion and say a prayer for that family? Will I yield to anger and bitterness when I see the rise of the wicked or will I instead emulate the love of Jesus and pray for their souls? Will I yield to frustration and anger when someone cuts me off in traffic or will I use it as an opportunity to pray for that person that crossed my path? As I step out the door this morning I want yield my members to "right living" and not unto sin. When I am yielding to God then I am standing on the promise "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."