The idea of surrender, most commonly, has negative connotations. We think of armies and nations that have surrendered in wars; they saw that they were defeated by the victors, and so they gave up, admitted defeat and surrendered to their conquerors.
None of that sounds great! We generally don’t walk around thinking, “Oh, I hope I am defeated today – so that I can surrender.” But in the Christian context, surrender is the most wonderful position to find yourself in, because in our case, the victor is also our Savior.
To live our lives in a posture of surrender to God is a glorious freedom.
We must come to the place where we “give up,” where we finally admit that we cannot do it on our own, that we cannot meet God’s standard. As we read in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” This causes us to see our need for Jesus to be our Savior. It is in this moment of “defeat” that we surrender to our Savior, and in that glorious moment, we realize Jesus has not won victory over us, but He has won victory for us. He is not our conqueror; He is our Savior. Indeed, Jesus surrendered all so that He could be our Savior. He surrendered His power and glory to come to the earth as a baby. The Bible tells us that Jesus, “Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). He surrendered His very life on the cross to take the penalty for our sin, so that one day we could willingly surrender to Him, to be adopted into His family and gain access to the throne of God. What a wonderful victory Jesus won for us; what a joy to fully surrender our lives to His great love and salvation.
The reality of surrender, however, is something that continues to resurface during different times in our lives. Our ultimate surrender comes in our decision to receive Christ as our Savior, however, as we go through life, there will continually be moments and seasons where we will need to surrender once again to the will of God. This may come in the form of a call of God you feel that you are resisting, a relationship you feel God is calling you to surrender, career, future plans, friendships, whatever it may be, I would encourage you to stop resisting God and once again surrender your will to His, just as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He said to the father, “Father if you are willing take this cup from me, but not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). With those words, Jesus willingly laid down His life for you, and bearing this great truth in mind, I encourage you to willingly surrender every aspect of your life again to the God who loves you, has the best for you and who has already surrendered everything for you.
You surrendered all,
You surrendered all,
All for me, my blessed Saviour,
You surrendered all.
And because the Lord did surrender all for us, everyday we say;
I surrender all,
I surrender all
All for thee my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.
There doesn’t need to be any fear in surrendering to the God who loves us and wants the best for us.
We are not surrendering to a mean or capricious God. Even though sometimes there can be a sense of disquiet in trusting God in the things He has called us to. We must remember that in being obedient to Him, we will see His absolute best for us come to life. He only has good for us. “For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11).
There is freedom in surrender to God. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). In fact, true freedom is only found in surrender to God. Nothing else can make us free, but the Bible tells us that, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed” (John 8:36). Therefore, let us surrender fully to Jesus and let us stay surrendered to Him. Let us always remember that He surrendered all for us, and that through His sacrifice, He won us a victory we could never have gained on our own. He gave everything for us, so let’s hold our lives lightly, not grasping desperately to things we feel we cannot do without; let’s instead, live in a continual posture of surrender, finding peace in the fact that we are being held in the mighty hand of a loving God.
