Limiting Reagent

There is a very familiar Christian concept about "surrendering", and there is a song called "Surrender" written by Marc James:

I'm giving you my heart, and all that is within
I lay it all down for the sake of you my King
I'm giving you my dreams, I'm laying down my rights
I'm giving up my pride for the promise of new life


And I surrender all to you, all to you
And I surrender all to you, all to you


I'm singing You this song, I'm waiting at the cross
And all the world holds dear, I count it all as loss
For the sake of knowing You for the glory of Your name
To know the lasting joy, even sharing in Your pain

So what's the point of surrendering? Why do we need to do that? A verse that come into my mind is the Vine and the Branches (John 15) that tells us to abide in Christ. It we called ourselves Christians, then we acknowledge the lordship of Christ in our lives, therefore we submit to Him. There are instances that we are called to submit, like to authorities (Rom 13:1, 1 Peter 2:3), to one another (Ephesians 5:21), the wife submitting to her husband (Ephesians 5:22).

The idea is more clear to me when I look at passages about Christ living in me since He died for me (Gal 2:19-20, 2 Cor 5:15).That I should not live this life for my own ambitions or to please myself, but Christ out of infinite mercy died for my sins, so that I can be rescued and reconciled to God. Therefore, I should live for Christ, to follow Him, to do His work, to give glory to God.

I see many instances of my life reflects Romans 7, that I desire to do something good, but I end up doing something bad, and I don't do the good I intend to do. It's actually quite annoying, but the reality is that there is war inside me every moment. The Spirit desires good, but my flesh desires the bad things. And no matter how much effort I invest in correcting my sinful behavior, it cannot be done all by myself. I need the Holy Spirit to help me, and that's when I learn to surrender to God, so that the Spirit can work in me and transform me. It's not that the Spirit is unable to change me if I don't surrender (God is all-powerful) but God offers grace and waits for our response.

I kind of explained a similar thing about lowering our resistance so that the power of the Spirit can flow in us.

Here is another illustration, I am not too familiar with chemistry (that's part of the reason why I am Electrical Eng), but I did learn a bit in high school, and I know about the concept of limiting reagent. From my limited knowledge about limiting reagent, I think it means that in a chemical reaction, the yield (output) is limited by the amount of a reagent (input).

Similarly, I think we are the limiting reagents for God to work powerfully in our lives. It could be my lack of faith, the times I don't focus on God, or don't read His word, or don't pray enough, or follow after my flesh desires... all these hinder the ongoing transformation in my life and the good works that can be done through me by God's power.

Therefore, I must always surrender to my Lord, Jesus Christ.

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21