Welcome to part three in our series of "classic" FAST, articles from the early days of our ministry. This article comes from progression I found particularly helpful in my own walk with God. It's not actually about tape, but surrender...



You often hear people say duct tape can fix about anything. And that apart from a dog, duct tape is a man's best friend. Not sure about either of those claims, but it is a pretty amazing invention.

The idea was actually conceived during WWII by Vesta Stoudt, a mother with two sons serving in the Navy. She was working in a factory that packaged up cartridges for rifle grenades. At the time, her factory used a combination of paper tape and waterproof wax to seal the boxes, but the tape was too weak and often broke making it difficult to get the boxes open when needed. She proposed a strong, waterproof, cloth-based tape that could be ripped off easily.

When her supervisors showed little interest, she actually wrote a personal letter to the president (F.D.R.), arguing the new tape could save lives in dangerous battlefield situations. Within a few weeks, she received a response that her idea had been forwarded to the appropriate military officials, and before long, soldiers were using duct tape to fix all sorts of things!

The Tape Illustration

Tape at its essence binds two things together. So it makes sense to use the word as an illustration for how we bind ourselves to God. Ultimately, this binding process happens as we grow in surrender. And surrender becomes increasingly possible as we grow in our ability to appropriate the principles of the Gospel into our moment by moment experience. While many see the Gospel as a one time transaction in our past, the Bible describes it as an ongoing and continual source of power (Colossians 2:6As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:, I Corinthians 1:18For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.).



Grasping how the principles of the Gospel can lead to victory over temptation is critical in the life of a believer. And once learned, it unlocks amazing potential for life transformation. But learning these lessons is a growth process. And the word "tape" makes a helpful acronym summarizing the four main steps in surrender. Let's explore these in reverse order:

Experimental
When a person first understands how the Gospel can give power for victory in moments of temptation, he is often interested in giving it a try. He identifies some recurring problem area in his life, commits to using the technique in battling that temptation, and he gives it a try. Assuming he follows the basic steps correctly, he is often surprised how well it works. His experiment with the Gospel proves a success, and he concludes there really is power for surrender.

Passive
Once that realization hits home, the next step is typically to move up to what I call passive surrender. That is, he'll make some bargain with God along these lines: Lord, if there is some other area you want me to use this method on, just let me know. He is open to exploring the Gospel further, but expects God to take the initiative in prompting him to do so, and only in specific situations. If he stays in this mode faithfully, he will gradually begin to gain additional experience, and confidence, in the power of the Gospel.

Active
At some point, it may occur to him, that our pursuit of victory should not just be passive, but active. While God certainly can and will prompt us to fight and resist various temptations, a strong believer will eagerly look for specific areas to overcome. They carefully assess every aspect of their spiritual life, identify specific growth goals, and commit to lasting victory in each area. They are on the constant lookout for ways to apply Scripture to their day to day life. All this requires much more aggressive use of the Gospel.

Total
The more a person pursues active surrender, the more habitual it will become. We gradually shift towards a continual state of prayer--asking God to reveal His will in every situation. Our natural mode will be a steady focus on the life implementation of Scripture. Our automatic response will be to turn to the power of God when we find ourselves struggling to obey. The principles of the Gospel, in time, become so internalized, they are intertwined with our own character. Little by little, we draw closer to the ultimate goal: total surrender.

Conclusion

So surrender is a four step process: we experiment with the Gospel and discover it works. We then move into a more passive mode, where we give God permission to prompt us as needed. At some point, a switch is flipped, and we become active in our pursuit of surrender in every aspect of our life. And the more habitual and automatic this becomes, the more total our surrender.

These four modes: Total, Active, Passive, and Experimental, are how we "TAPE" ourselves to God. It's the adhesive that binds us to Him. And unlike duct tape, it really can fix anything in our life. Why? Because it connects us to the One who is in truth, man's best friend!

Comments

How important is it to learn how to draw power from the Gospel for daily victory? Can you relate to any of these stages of surrender? What makes duct tape such a good illustration of the concepts in this article?

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