All to Jesus, I surrender. All to Him I freely give. Many of you know that song by heart. Many of us have sung that song so many times in our lives, but do we really even pay attention to the words? Do you really surrender all? I'm talking to myself more than anyone in this blog. I'm preaching at myself, because I caught a truth last night in a prayer time, that no. I really do not surrender all. Come to think about it...I don't really know that I surrender most. Okay, okay...I surrender some? You see, when we get to the bottom of the pile of this, and dig a little deeper, we come to a realization. Most of us will only surrender what is comfortable. Read that again. We will only surrender what is comfortable. If that's the case, then is it truly surrender?
I just came back from the Desperation Student Conference. If you've never been and you're a youth pastor, you are doing yourself and your kids a disservice. Anyway, that was my plug for the conference. And really, any time you go to a conference or youth camp or whatever, you come back on such a spiritual high that you think, "I'M GOING TO SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD BY MYSELF! JESUS IS SO GOOD! YEAH! NAME IT AND CLAIM IT! I WANT A YELLOW LAMBOURGHINI! AND A MILLION DOLLARS! AND A PET RINO!" Okay...maybe those last few aren't what we really think, but you get the point. We sang a song all week that said, "Jesus makes the impossible, possible." And we believed it. And we still believe it. Today at least. Or maybe this week. But what about next week? Next month? Next year? I feel like every one of the 4,000 people that attended that conference were serious about making a difference in their city. I know that our group definitely was. And still is. We told God that He could have everything! He could be our everything! He was the one we wanted to see, and we only wanted to seek His face! And those are all great things while we're there, but what happens when we get home?
I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Him my blessed Savior. I surrender all. So now we're back to surrender. The dictionary defines surrender as to give oneself up, as into the power of another; submit or yield. Surrender is usually linked with war. When the enemy army is too powerful, and too strong, you would surrender in order to save your own lives. Surrendering to God is much the same way. We surrender to Him, not because He is going to take our lives, but because if we don't we can't gain real life. Without surrender to God, we will not be able to walk into the Kingdom of Heaven when we pass on to eternity.
Most of us, I believe really do understand the fact that we have to surrender and accept Him as the Savior of our souls. But what comes next? Do we need to alter in any way the things that we do? Do we need to alter in any way the people we hang out with? Do we need to change anything at all? There's a saying that is said at our church very frequently. The Christian life is not about change. The Christian life is about exchange. See when we exchange our life for Christ's, then He can implant His heart and mind into us. If we are just trying to change to be good, then we will never get where we want to go. However, if we exchange our lives, we allow Christ to come and teach us how to love. Teach us how to follow. Teach us who to be with, how to live our lives, and how to interact with Him. Living a life of exchange at first is not easy, because of one thing. Absolute, complete, 100% surrender. We have to die to ourselves and our desires and allow someone else to call the shots.
I feel like this is the way most people view surrender. "As long as it doesn't alter who I am. And as long as it doesn't affect my friendships. And as long as I don't have to act, think, or do differently...then sure! I'll surrender! Friends, THAT. IS. NOT. SURRENDER. That is completely opposite of surrender. If you were to surrender to an enemy in battle, you do not get to make any kind of demands from them. You are in fact their prisoner and they tell you who you will be. How you will be. And who you will be you with! Surrender means that you have counted the cost. You understand that you are about to save your life, but there is something that the other side is going to demand of you. Fortunately for us, Christ is not an evil ruler. Christ honestly doesn't really demand that we change our lives. He doesn't really tell us that we have to be better than we used to be. As long as we believe in Him as the Son of God, and accept His baptism, then we can rest with Him in eternity. But here's my question for you if you live your life that way. If you walk through life, and never really allow God to take control of it, because you don't want to give up your freedoms. ARE YOU RETARDED?!?!?! The CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE wants to have a real relationship with you, and He wants to give you the most fulfilling life you could ever hope for, yet you think you can do it better?!? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a child? You think that you, a carnal and finite being, could make a better decision about the creation than even THE CREATOR can? God IS bigger than us. God IS better than us! God KNOWS more than we do, and He knows BETTER than we do! The only way that we can really come into what He knows, and how He knows it, is to surrender.
Friends, surrender without sacrifice is not surrender. You don't get to pick and choose when you surrender. You either do it all the way, or you don't do it at all. There is no riding the fence when it comes to surrender. Romans 12 talks of us being a living sacrifice. There is one big difference between being a living sacrifice and a dead one. A living sacrifice can get off of the altar. Excuse my grammar but, DEAD STUFF DON'T MAKE CHOICES! The reason God wants a LIVING sacrifice is because a living sacrifice has to CHOOSE to stay on the altar. "But what happens when I fall off of the altar because of decisions I've made?" Very simple. You stand up. Dust yourself off. And get back on the altar. None of us will live in surrender perfectly. But I can assure you, that you will definitely never live a better life on your own.
I discovered last night that I really don't surrender much of anything to God. I really would rather just live my life with Him being a part of it, riding shot gun while I make the decisions. The thing that scares me, is that He will do that if I want Him to. And He isn't a passenger side driver. He won't nag me about my driving skills. He won't try and get me to let Him drive. The only thing He says is, "When you get tired of driving, I'll take over. And I know a better way to the destination." I have purposed within myself, that surrender will be a daily part of my life. Will I be perfect at it? Of course not. Will I get better with time? Definitely. He will help me along. He will teach me how to surrender. He will teach me how to love Him with everything. He will teach me how to give myself over to Him.
Friends, I encourage you, and I implore you, to make a genuine decision to surrender to God. You may not be ready to go all in right now, but there is something in all of our lives that is holding us back from living a fulfilled life with Christ. Maybe it's a friend. Maybe it's an addiction. Maybe it's television, or movies, or whatever. But if you will allow Christ to help you to surrender it to Him, He can make all the difference in the world.
I pray that this has helped someone. I pray that at least one of you will take this challenge and follow through with it. I believe that there is no greater joy in life, than following Christ and doing what He does. If you do take this challenge, let me know. I want to pray for you and believe with you during this journey.
Jesus, I pray for myself, and my friends that are reading this. I ask that You would give us the courage and the strength to step forward and come out of agreement with ourselves, and come into agreement with You. Help us to really begin to surrender our lives. Help us to really go hard after You with everything that we have. We want to see Your face, and we want to know who You are, and how You live. Thank You for the life that You've given us. Now, help us to live it abundantly unto You.
In Your name I pray.
Amen.
