I Surrender All*

Surrender is such a loaded term. Anytime someone surrenders in battle, they’re giving up; they’re admitting defeat. So when someone shouts from the pulpit, Surrender your life to Jesus!, it’s understandable that our instinct tells us that may not work out in our favor. I was looking for a invitational song (a song sung following the preacher’s sermon) and one typical song came to mind: I Surrender All. Many of you can probably sing this song without assistance because you’ve sang it so much. You can at least remember the chorus, right?

I surrender all! I surrender all! All to thee my blessed Savior. I surrender all. 

Vision Jesus standing in your presence as you sing this beloved chorus to Him How do you think He’d respond? Here below is a script of how I envision Jesus reacting right after someone sang that to Him… (Jesus is in bold, the singer is in italics.)

“All? Seriously? All? So everything? You’re seriously surrendering everything?”

“Yeah, Jesus. I mean, you died for me. It’s the least I could do.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot. But everything? So you’re going to surrender your marriage?”

“Of course.”

“Your potential future parenthood?”

“Yes, Lord.”

“Your time on Sunday?”

“Already done.”

“Well, praise me. So you’re really serious about this?”

“I am, Jesus.”

“Right. So I’ll just adjust somethings here.”

“Wait, what are you doing, Lord?”

“Well, you surrendered all. So, I’ve got to work on somethings here. To start, your finances are all out wack.”

“My money?? Wait a minute. I – ” 

“And then there’s time management thing. Sure, you’ve got Sunday figured out, but what about Monday – Saturday?” 

“Yeah about that, I – “

“And these idols! These idols have to go!”

“Idols?! Now wait just a minute! I don’t have any idols.”

“Ha. Right, right. Of course you don’t. Except well, you do. Anything above me is an idol. Even though your bio on Instagram says, ‘Christ first,’ let’s be honest, I’m not. And since you surrendered all, I’m going to have to get somethings, even some people out of your life.” 

“Lord, I – “

“And these quiet addictions you have… The things you think no one else knows about, but me and you… The swearing, what you’re looking at on your laptop late at night, and even your addiction to anger. It’s like you enjoy being angry. Maybe you think the aggression makes you look tough and it hides the pain you’re really experiencing, but you’re really doing your testimony a disservice – my name a disservice. So, since you’re surrendering all, you’ve got to allow me to work in these areas of your life so that you can see your purpose fulfilled through me.”

“Jesus, I’m not ready to surrender all…”

“No? That’s unfortunate. What can you surrender?”

“What I think everyone sees.”

Giving Him everything can feel impossible. As I mentioned in my previous blog, (Tetelestai: Christianity’s Most Important Message For You) God has created us, and also delivered us from the penalty of what we deserve. He has promised us a life of freedom and fruitfulness. We have no reason to cower in fear over what submission to Him will bring. He has no desire to make our lives miserable, but wants us to experience a life defined by love.

If you want to truly be a follower of Christ, it requires submission to him. You can’t follow your own agenda and simultaneously follow Him. Trying to do both will create more tension and stress. You cannot serve yourself and Him. Jesus prayed in John 17,  “As you (God) sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.” Going where Jesus wants us to go will inevitably lead to making followers of Jesus. Unfortunately, many have construed Jesus’ command to “make disciples” to be a special talent, or the description of a professional career in ministry. But there are a lot of pathways to be involved in making disciples.

Doing what God wants you to do could seem intimidating, like you’re inviting God to hand you a giant “to-do” list that you could never complete. There’s this huge fear of letting Him down, I get that. I compare it to losing weight. Sometimes, you look at the scale and think, “Gosh, I need to lose some much weight. It’s impossible to make my number now. So what’s the point?” And we continue living an unhealthy lifestyle. Same works with following Christ. There’s so much to do. The Church has so many needs. Where do we even begin?

One thing is clear from the Gospels is that the people did not feel the same way about Jesus as they did the Pharisees. The Pharisees made righteousness complicated and unattainable, and probably undesirable. It’s easy to think doing what God wants us to do is mostly about big tasks, perhaps in a moment of crisis. But more normally, and thus often missed, is doing what he wants in the mundane and unnoticed moments. These small, daily acts of surrender grow our faith and courage, and prepare us to act as he wants us to when the stakes are higher. It can be as simple as just following through on something you committed to do, especially when doing so involves sacrifice or personal inconvenience.

Smokey Bear has reminded us for over seventy years that “only you can prevent forest fires.” The damage from just a small spark can lay waste to a beautiful forest and destroy whole communities. Scripture uses the same vocabulary to describe the destructive power of our words: “The tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!” (James 3:5) With the potential for such destruction, and also the potential for good that comes from our speech, it’s important to say what Jesus wants us to say, and not just imitate the values of our culture. Our world is filled with speech characterized by hatred, jealousy, condemnation and anger. Jesus gave a principle that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” We can’t avoid the truth; our speech will reveal what is deep down inside of us.

As we yield to His control, we’ll find that we’ll want to tell others about Him. That doesn’t mean you’ll be obnoxious or condescending to others. In fact, just the opposite. You’ll be kind and compassionate, telling people who Jesus is and what a difference he has made in your life. God loved you so much that He gave His only son for your salvation. What a gift! If you possess this gift, what are you doing with it today?

We are never told having stuff is evil. It’s the love for that stuff that’s often the problem. How many of the things that you have, the things that you love most, help you bring Him praise? Romans 12:1 says you are to,  “present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” The image is of the Old Testament sacrificial system. We are to give our whole lives on the altar before God, including the stuff we have.

Surrendering our lives to Jesus is not a covenant to be perfect. Its a proclamation of who you stand with. It’s not just one moment in your life. It’s a daily decision to allow your heart, mind, emotions, and will into daily submission to his plan and purpose. For many of us, we need to learn to surrender. Learning to surrender to Jesus takes effort and practice. Starting each day with a prayer of surrender is a great place to start. You can get lost or stuck for various reasons, and we need a simple way to get back on the path. Some people wait for that to happen at the next church service or Bible study. Sometimes it takes a crisis. But we don’t have to wait to surrender to Christ. The question is, what are you waiting for? What is it you can’t surrender? Its easy to use a broad term like all, isn’t it? But change the lyrics to what challenges you. I surrender my job. I surrender my insecurities. My past to thee my blessed Savior. I surrender my bitterness. What may seem like unpoetic words, if truly meant from the heart, is a sweet sound in the ear of God.

But God doesn’t want mere words. Surrender requires an action, not just a declaration. Our worship has to be more than empty promises we cannot keep. What God has done and continues to do is worthy of our praise far more than what we claim we’ve done or are doing for Him. Worshipping Him after all is surrendered, sets up for a far greater experience. You want Him to move mountains, but He wants to start with moving you. Until you’ve abdicated whatever rules you, I Surrender All deserves an asterisk. He doesn’t want to hear words written in a 75 year old hymn book or words up on a screen if you don’t mean them. He wants your heart. He wants you. But again, what are you willing to surrender? Signing out for now. Talk to you again soon. Thanks for reading.