“God wants our complete surrender.” This sentence has been ringing in my head the past 24 hours. John 3:16 tells us that Jesus surrendered everything for us. He loved us so much that his entire being was surrendered, yet we have troubles surrendering petty things like our job or possessions. This is true of me, too.
I’ve always known this truth, but I’m getting the life application of surrender now. I’m coming out of a three year season of being really tired. I’ve come to fully realize over the past 24 hours that I’ve been tired because I simply can’t give up control–I haven’t been able to completely surrender. So, even though I’ve done this before, 24 hours ago, I surrendered everything (emphasis on everything) to God once again. Of course, there’ll be a whole lot more growth for me in this, but I’m excited for where God continues to take me.
God wants our complete surrender. He doesn’t need perfection all at once but he does expect us to be open to full surrender and to respond when he asks us to. For most of us, that means surrender looks more like small surrenders, one at a time.
Surrender goes hand-in-hand with obedience. In the definition of the word “obedience”, the meaning is: “to hear or listen towards”. So, surrender also means to be listening in obedience for our next direction. The only way this happens is with love. Period.
Hebrews 5:8-9 shows us what it looks like to follow in Jesus’ footsteps in regard to surrender. “8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Jesus displayed the ultimate act of obedience when he obeyed God and surrendered his life for us.
Let’s bring it home. We are to be following in Jesus’ footsteps, aren’t we? The answer is yes. So, if we love Jesus enough to surrender our all to him and therefore obey and follow him as our ultimate authority and leader, then he’ll respond by allowing us into the Kingdom. Now, that’s beauty.
