As a Christian, you may hear about “surrender” and “obedience” on a constant basis. Yet we constantly struggle with these issues, don’t we? Our sinful nature seems to always throw a red flag in front of our faces whenever we are told to do something. We want to be in charge and hold the reigns. Many have fooled themselves into thinking that they actually do. Where do we draw the line with our relationship with God and say it’s okay for Him to have control of this aspect of our lives, but not this aspect?
Continuous Surrender: Eliminating Our Inner Rebel One Day at a Time
Now when we’re talking about surrender here, it’s not the kind of surrender where you admit defeat; but rather the kind of surrender where you submit to authority. This submission of ourselves is a daily dilemma. Some days we find ourselves able, and other days we have a great struggle with surrendering to the Lord.
There are many aspects of surrender that we have to take into account when we follow Christ:
- Surrender of your love: This might seem very straightforward to most, but it can be far more difficult than we realize. For instance, there are many people (both inside and outside of the church) who consider their earthly relationships far more relevant than their relationship with Christ. Jesus said in Luke 14:26, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.” He continues on in verses 28 thru 30, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’?” Now Jesus is not telling us to literally hate others. He is painting this picture for us that we should love Him so much that it makes our love for anyone or anything else looks like hatred by comparison. In other words, we have a commitment with the Lord that will require us to put Him above all other relationships and we need to remind ourselves every day that our goal is to let nothing else stand in the way of loving our Lord and obeying His commands.
- Surrender of your authority: Many of us have a natural born feeling of self-authority. It is in our nature to want to rule over ourselves and have no other masters. The idea of a God who lists commandments to us and tells us how to live our lives can be off-putting for many. We have to come to terms that we are incredibly limited in our control of this world and even our own. For some, the hard part isn’t necessarily surrendering to God and allowing Him to be master, but surrendering to human authorities. The apostle Paul wrote that we need to obey the authorities that God has placed over us (Romans 13:1-7), so long as those authorities do not command us to disobey God’s law. Peter summed it up in his first epistle, “Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.” (1 Pet. 2:17)
- Surrender of your anxieties: Have you ever heard someone talk about the peace Jesus brings and thought to yourself, “Peace? What peace?” If that’s the case you are probably in church leadership. All joking aside, many Christians deal with day-to-day worries and many have a bad habit of worrying too much. When you’re worrying about how you’re going to get yourself out of a mess or how to get something done, you’re not trusting God to come through for you. Jesus tells us not to worry about our needs in Matthew 6:25-34. He tells us God has us covered and we have nothing to fear. Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that He is God. Part of serving God comes with trust that He is in control of the situation. God is always there for us, though we tend to easily forget this. We find ourselves desperate at the end of our rope many times and crying, “God! Where are you?” When we listen, we hear his whisper to us: “Right here.”
Many times a day, we miss the opportunity to surrender to God and let His will be done instead of our own. Every time we could be witnessing, studying His Word, or going out of our way to help people in need is an opportunity to surrender and say, “Alright Lord, help me let go of the reins in my mind and heart and pass them to You, because You are the only One Who ever had them to begin with.”
What are your thoughts? How else can we surrender to God?