Unbroken Devotion

When Jesus calls His followers to be perfect as the Father is perfect, He is not inviting them into moral strain or emotional flatness. He is calling them into wholeness—an undivided heart that belongs entirely to God. Perfection, in this sense, is not flawlessness. It is fullness. It is the maturity of love that no longer competes with rival desires.

What God demands is not relentless effort, but total devotion. He does not ask for endless striving; He asks for ownership of the heart. And when the heart is fully given to Him, something surprising happens: obedience becomes easier, not harder. The weight lifts. Resistance fades. What once felt forced begins to flow naturally, because love has replaced pressure.

Those who are completely God’s are not anxious people. They are not constantly wrestling with what they might lose. They are content—not because life is perfect, but because their desires are aligned. They want what God wants. And when you want what God wants, peace follows. Discontent is always rooted in divided desire. Rest is always found in agreement with God.

This is why surrender produces joy instead of deprivation. In giving up what displeases God, you do not lose happiness—you gain it. A clear conscience replaces inner tension. A free heart replaces secret struggle. Rest settles where resistance once lived. Peace grows where compromise once crowded the soul. The sweetness of surrender becomes real, not theoretical, and the light of God increases within the spirit.

Many fear surrender because they imagine it will make life smaller. In truth, surrender delivers us from cruel masters. Fear is a harsh dictator when it rules the heart. Worldly desires promise freedom but quietly enslave. The divided life is exhausting—pulled by appetite, ruled by anxiety, driven by comparison. But when the heart belongs wholly to God, these tyrannies lose their authority. Fear loosens its grip. Desire is purified. The soul breathes again.

What we often call “discipline” is simply the struggle of a divided heart. But when devotion becomes complete, discipline becomes delight and abiding in Him is reality. God’s will no longer feels threatening. His commands no longer feel restrictive. Love transforms obedience from duty into joy. As Scripture says, His commandments are not burdensome—not because they are light in demand, but because love makes them light to carry.

There is a deep rest that comes only through surrender. Not the rest of inactivity, but the rest of agreement. The soul stops arguing with God. It stops negotiating terms. It stops protecting hidden corners. And in that yielding, peace settles—not as emotion alone, but as reality. This is the sweetness of holiness: not harshness, but harmony.

Becoming Holy, then, is not becoming rigid or severe. It is becoming free. It is the narrowing of desire that produces the widening of joy. It is the letting go of lesser loves so that the greater Love can fully reign. Those who are completely God’s are not diminished—they are liberated. Their lives are not smaller—they are brighter.

This is the paradox of the gospel: the more fully we give ourselves to God, the more fully alive we become. What is surrendered is healed. What is yielded is restored. And what belongs entirely to Him finally rests.

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”— Matthew 16:25