Harold Keller / L’Observateur / September 6, 2000

There was a movie many years ago starring James Dean, called “Rebel Without a Cause.” Most of my adolescence, teen-age and adult life, I’vebeen a rebel. I’ve taken pride in resisting all authority. Believe me, I’m notbragging about the rebellious spirit that I have, because God’s Word says we should respect all authority.

Has my rebellious attitude caused me trouble over the years? More than I care to remember. Because of my riotous living, it strained myrelationship with my dad. In the Navy, it caused me more mess duty(washing dishes and mopping floors) than anyone on the ship. It has alsobeen the chief cause of me losing some pretty good jobs. In my marriage, Irefused to listen to godly wisdom from my wife.

I suffered the consequences for my actioins but in spite of the misery it caused, my pride encouraged me to continue to rebel. It wasn’t until I wentto a 12-step program to help me stop drinking that I started looking at my destructive behavior.

One of the first things I realized as I attended my first meeting was that in order to win, I had to surrender. Surrender, as far as I was concerned,was a negative word. It always meant that you lost. I couldn’t relatesurrendering to winning.

As I continued to go to meetings, I learned that I had to surrender to my enemy, alcohol, to win sobriety. That made sense to me. Even though Imaintained my sobriety, I had only surrendered to the power alcohol had over me. I was still rebellious in all other areas.When I became a Christian in October 1980, I was told that I had to surrender my will over to God. Many people told me that I had to yield tothe Holy Spirit. “Yield!” I thought. “I don’t even like to yield at a yieldsign!” One song we sing at church that I like a lot goes like this: “You (God) are the potter, I am the clay.

Mold me and make me, This is what I pray.”As Christians, our goal is to be Christ-like. We are predestined to bemolded into God’s image. When we give God control over our lives, Hegently softens us up, flattens us out a little, smooths off the rough edges, and prunes things we don’t need. We become pliable and easy to work withso that God can use us to change lives.

Instead of being a rebel with a cause, my position today is to be submissive to God’s plan for my life.

HAROLD KELLER writes this column as part of his affiliation with the Get High on Life religious motivational group.

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