Remember... always remember, sin is the nature, the character trait in conflict with God and the cause of the sins or actions. We are not to "present" ourselves to sin, but rather "present" ourselves to God.
Nee, in this chapter, explains that "presenting" is synonymous with consecration but not consecration of the old self, but rather consecration of the reborn spirit man. So it can be said -- presenting is the process of bringing ourselves to God in solemn dedication. Dedication to His purpose and plan. It is here that Nee puts the previous chapters together with this thought, and shows the progression of the things that comprise a normal Christian life.
He says, "When I really know that I am crucified with Him, then spontaneously I reckon myself dead. And when I know that I am raised with Him from the dead, then likewise I reckon myself 'alive unto God in Christ', for both the death and resurrection side of the cross are to be accepted by faith. When this point is reached, giving myself to Him follows. In resurrection He is the source of my life -- indeed He is my life -- so I cannot but present everything to Him, for all is His, not mine. But without passing through death, I have nothing to consecrate; nor is there anything God can accept, for He has condemned all that is of the old creation to the cross. Death has cut off all that cannot be consecrated to Him, and resurrection alone has made consecration possible. Presenting myself to God means that henceforth I consider my whole life as belonging to Him."
Not only do I consider my whole life as belonging to God but Paul says our "members" as well. "'Present your members' (Rom. 6:13, 19). God requires of me that I now regard all my members, all my faculties, as belonging wholly to Him." I have to dedicate my life to God, but I also have to dedicate the very thing that gets man through life. In some sense to dedicate a life is to dedicate a purpose. But to dedicate members is to include the mental and physical power to achieve that purpose.
To illustrate this point Nee describes a situation where a person might consecrate himself to be a preacher or missionary. This is not consecration to God. "They have 'consecrated' (as they would put it) something altogether different, namely, their own un-crucified natural faculties to the doing of His work." Consecration in what God requires is "Not to a Christian work, but to the will of God, to be and do whatever He requires."
"'Lord, I give myself to Thee with this desire alone: to know and walk in the path Thou hast ordained.' That is true giving."
This is a difficult place to get to. It is a place of complete surrender. And that complete surrender will be tested. We cannot say I am surrendered and not to be immediately tested. "That strong self-assertive will of mine must go to the cross, and I must give myself wholly to the Lord... we cannot expect the Lord to live out His life in us if we do not give Him our lives in which to live." And the testing of this surrender, of the completeness of our dedication to God, will come in the most familiar of areas.
Nee says, "If we give ourselves unreservedly to God, many adjustments may have to be made: in family, or business, or church relationships, or in the matter of our personal views. God will not let anything of ourselves remain. His finger will touch, point by point, everything that is not of Him, and He will say, 'This must go.' Are you willing?"
Well, are you willing? Many reading have already said they are willing, and this should go very far into explaining the experience since. God will point at that thing un-surrendered to Him. Over and over and over He will point until it is surrendered. And then He will point at the next thing. It is necessary to struggle with faculties between us and the Lord so that we come to know they have not been surrendered. It is necessary because we "... must first have the sense of God's possession of me before I can have the sense of His presence with me. When once His ownership is established, then I dare do nothing in my own interests, for I am His exclusive property."
You can go you whole life and never recognize this work of surrender at work in you. It is not a salvation issue. To miss it will not cost your soul. Neither will fighting against it. It is a reward and higher level. It is a closeness to the Father. But as I said, it is a difficult thing. Nee warns us, "There are cherished ideas, strong wills, precious relationships, much loved work, that will have to go; so do not give yourself to God unless you mean it... He breaks what He takes, but after breaking it He blesses and uses it to meet the needs of others. After you give yourself to the Lord, He begins to break what was offered to Him. Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God. But to stay there is to be no more than just a broken vessel -- no good for the world because you have gone too far for the world to use you, and no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for Him to use you. You are out of gear with the world, and you have a controversy with God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian."
"I do not consecrate myself to be a missionary or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do His will where I am, be it at school, office, or kitchen, or wherever He may, in His wisdom, send me. Whatever He ordains for me is sure to be the very best, for nothing but good can come to those who are wholly His."
We are not even 1/2 way through with the review of The Normal Christian Life and I already hear the Holy Spirit saying, "that is enough." This post alone is more than most Christians have ever put in their mouth, let alone swallow. If you would like to continue this walk Nee has laid out, I would encourage you to buy the book. As for now, to comment any more would be disobedience. I look forward to the new things God would have me write about. I look forward to once again reporting on humanities interaction with our Creator.
God Bless
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