Misconceptions on Surrender

Submitted by Jennifer Power

The poignant question posed to the kids in my 5th and 6th grade class this past week was “are you willing to give God a blank check with your life?”.

I encouraged authenticity, and the general answer was “no.”

Curious and a bit taken aback, I followed up by asking, “why not?”

One response stood out: “I have too much stuff.”

We spent a few minutes in discussion then moved on, but the conversation lingered in my mind for many days after. I spent time pondering, is this true of the general population of Christians in our country today? Do people generally believe surrender to God is optional? Do we even understand what it means to surrender?

We live in a time when many would boil Christianity down to forgiveness of sins and a ticket to heaven. We say “believe in Jesus and He will forgive your sins and you will go to heaven when you die.”

I am not denying the truth in this statement. I DO, however, find it to be grossly incomplete. We need only look at scripture to see that surrender is an automatic and necessary response to following Jesus. Jesus’ disciples surrendered to Him at the cost of many of their lives. Surrender for the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-22 meant selling all he had. Look at his response. Notice, he did not say “no, that’s okay, I will just believe in You, be Your follower, and skip the surrender part.” Instead, he went away sad.

Read Matthew 16:24-27. Read Luke 14:25-33.

The scriptures are clear: Surrender is NOT optional for followers of Jesus.

Not only is surrender not optional for Christians, it is likewise not passive.

Although the word surrender might conjure up images of giving up in defeat, throwing in the towel, or maybe, in a moment of worship, lifting our hands to the heavens, we must not be misled. Surrender to Jesus is NOT a passive act of giving up.

Surrender to Jesus does not simply mean we say “okay God, take over!” Certainly, this is necessary – we MUST give up control to our Maker, but surrender does not end here.

Giving up is only the beginning… next comes the fight.

Surrender to Jesus does not mean we just sit and wait for God to tell us the next big step for our lives. Surrender means day by day, hour by hour, breath by breath obedience and reliance.

Surrender means absolute submission to God. In submission to God, we put forth all the effort we can possibly conjure up to live a life to honor Him even while knowing we will never succeed without the guidance, strength, and comfort of His Holy Spirit.

Surrender requires every ounce of fight within us. We must not fall into the trap of thinking the grace of God excuses us from effort.

Read 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. Read Philippians 3:12-14. Read Romans 6:15-18.

Surrender is NOT passive.

I encourage you today to give serious consideration to whether or not you and your family are living lives fully surrendered to God. Just like the path to loving Him more than anything else, surrender is a journey – and one that we need not take alone. It is good to begin with a willingness and a prayer. God will help us surrender all to Him.

Today, in each hour and in each moment, let us model for our children what it means to give God our very best. Let us repent and turn back to Him when we fail, and let us never stop our pursuit of Him; after all, He never stops pursuing us.

Matthew 19:16-22
Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
“Which ones?” he inquired.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, 19 honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?”
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.

Matthew 16:24-27
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

Luke 14:25-33
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Philippians 3:12-14
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Romans 6:15-18
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.