If I asked you, “Have you surrendered your life to God?” What would you say? Presumably, if He is your Savior and Lord, then this should be your wholehearted response. “Yes. I know that I am saved, baptized in Christ, my sin debt paid and my name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”
We must recognize that there is nothing we can do to save our souls, but must wholly trust in Jesus who bore our sins and paid the penalty we deserved. It’s ironic that we surrender our souls to His authority for salvation yet try to control other areas of our lives. If Jesus is our Savior, and we acknowledge Him as Lord God, then we should also realize that He is the Lord of our lives as well. Yet many Christians resist full surrender to Jesus because it seems too costly, too demanding. Or is it deeper than that? Let’s look at what it means to fully and truly surrender our lives to Jesus.
What does it mean to surrender ourselves to God? It’s very simple really. It requires that we open our hearts and lives to the Lord, asking Him to take out whatever does not please Him. We must be willing to confess, repent, walk away, give it up, and lay it down. Until we do, we will never become the person He wants us to be or enjoy His blessings. To be a disciple of Christ means every aspect of our lives is given to Him, and it’s evident in our conduct, conversation, and character. Anything less, is not a full surrender.
So let’s examine what a full surrender to God looks like. Jesus is the perfect example of full surrender. He always did the will of His Father, yet toward the end of His life, He struggled to surrender in the Garden of Gethsemane. As He withdrew from His disciples, He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
Jesus knew that He had come to die for the sins of mankind, and being fully God, He foresaw all that awaited Him as He suffered on the cross and bore the Father’s punishment for our sins. His distress demonstrates that surrender is not always easy and yet He never wavered from complete obedience to His Father’s will. There was no other way to accomplish the salvation of mankind. Therefore, Jesus offered Himself fully to the Father and bore the penalty for our sins.
Many people regard “a surrender” as a means of defeat. But for a follower of Christ, it means victory over whatever is hindering our lives. It may require that we ask God to search our hearts and reveal any areas we’ve kept for ourselves. Then as He brings something to mind and we relinquish it to Him. Once we’ve trusted Jesus as our Savior, we must recognize that we now belong to Him. Full surrender is like opening the doors of our lives and inviting Him to clean out whatever He wants. To try to keep parts of our lives to ourselves only hinders our walk with Him. Yet we often rationalize, saying, “This one little thing isn’t that important. After all, no one is perfect.” But that’s not how the Lord operates. He wants us to give Him our sins so that we can live the best life possible.
So what is holding you back? Is it a person, a possession, a way of life? Or someone or something in your past that has made you bitter and defiant. Blaming God is not the way. The only way to discover what God could do in our lives is to let go of anything that He says is not best for us. Although we may think we know better, we can never improve on His plan for our lives.