The
world rejects the idea of surrendering. They equate surrender with giving up,
with loss or defeat. However, when we surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
we release all the stress and striving in our life. Surrendering means trusting
in God alone.
When
we enter this phase of spiritual maturity, we stop struggling to live on our
own in this hostile environment that we call “life”. Surrender results in our
absolute submission to God’s leading for each moment of our day. In return, we
receive His multitude of blessings (Job 22:21).
The
easiest way to walk in surrender is to start in small increments. We begin by
preferring our mate’s needs to our own. We put money in the offering basket
that we intended to use for some small luxury. We take food to a sick friend
when we prefer to stay home and watch TV. We give the bicycle we rarely use to
a family that needs it.
We
relinquish our personal freedom and God replaces it with spiritual freedom that
is deep and lasting, and sets us free in spirit, body and soul – in our
thoughts, choices and emotions. There is no freedom outside of a complete
surrender to Christ (Luke 14:33).
We
surrender our life to Christ each new morning, giving to Him the issues that
weigh us down, seeking His guidance for each moment, and giving Him the glory
for everything we accomplish, because without Him we can do nothing of lasting
importance (John 15:5).
The
areas of our life that we refuse to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ are
the venues that imprison us. They are idols that we cherish more than our
relationship with our living Lord. These issues and "soul ties" chain
us to the corrupt earthly aspects of this life.
However,
at salvation, we not only commit our life to Christ, we surrender our works,
talents and accomplishments to His Lordship and direction. A committed life may
lose its peace and joy, but a surrendered life provides overwhelmingly
comforting peace and joy.
When
we live in Christ and allow Him to live in and through us, we surrender our old
life to live as His new creation for the glory of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). We
realize that gaining the world does not satisfy, because we will lose our own
soul (Mark 8:36).
Prayer:
Lord
Jesus, help us to follow You by completely surrendering our sinful desires,
pride and selfishness to You. If we try to preserve our life, we will
ultimately lose it; but if we surrender our life to You for Your sake, and give
up our plans, goals and ambitions for You, then we will gain a more fulfilling
and joy-filled life (Matthew 16:25). Following You give us unending peace and
joy (Matthew 16:24-26).
Remind
us that humility is the key. When we think that we can accomplish great things
for You, we are prideful. When we realize we are nothing, and Christ IN us is
everything, then we have the humility that You can use for Your glory. We fail
if we work for You through our human effort. Teach us that if we take the focus
off “I” and put it on Christ who dwells within us (Galatians 2:20; Philippians
4:13), we succeed, because we do all things through Christ.
Thought
for the Day:
The
moments of our life in which we live in surrender to God are more richly
experienced and completely fulfilling than any others; the surrendered life is
richly full of God’s ultimate joy, peace, fulfillment and abundance, which defy
all human reasoning.
