Surrender

Surrender.

It's a buzz word in Christianity.

"Have you surrendered that to the Lord?"
"Are you living a life of surrender?"

We use it in the broader sense of our entire lives, but we also use it in the day-to-day. And sometimes I wonder...what does it even mean?! When we tell someone to surrender something, when we ask them about it, when we think we need to... do we even know what we are saying?

I'm guilty of it. Guilty of suggesting it, guilty of thinking it needs to happen...but sometimes I think we forget to explain what it means, as if we assume it's just a given.

I think I spent a lot of my life thinking that I needed to surrender this and surrender that... but I had no real idea of what that actually looked like. The things weren't always tangible...so giving them up wasn't this easy ordeal.

Because surrender is complicated. More complicated than we make it. But it's also simple. Simpler than we make it.

To Surrender: to yield (something) to the possession or power of another; to give (oneself) up; to give up, abandon, relinquish... 

It's a letting go, of sorts.
It's a giving of yourself.
It's an admitting that there's One more powerful who not only we ought to yield something to, but our whole being to.

But what does that actually look like?
How does that become something that we aren't just saying, but actually living out of? How does it become tangible and real and not just this Christian word that rolls off our tongues?

Surrender.

It can truly change everything. If you're willing. If you let it.
If you surrender.

In our day-to-day lives, it can look quite different...depending on the person. Perhaps it's certain habits, sins...things that we know we need to abandon. Maybe that's what surrender looks like. Actual things we do that aren't good... that aren't glorifying to the Lord. Things that often have earthly consequences. Surrender means stopping.

Sometimes they are thoughts. Sometimes it's a need to let go of the things we worry about that are out of our control. Someone recently reminded me that the only thing in life that we have control over is our actions...and yet so much of the time we're still trying to fix things, make things happen, prevent things from happening. So much of the time we are worried about all the things that could happen. So, surrender here actually looks a lot like trust. Trusting that the One who is in control has got it all figured out. Trusting that He'll be faithful in what He promises.

Thoughts can manifest themselves in so many other ways that can be detrimental, too. Whether it's lust, or greed, or jealousy, or hatred, or unforgiveness... and this is where surrender becomes more challenging. This is where it becomes blurry... and this is where, I think, surrender is a daily (and oftentimes moment-to-moment) battle. It's something we have to fight to do. We have to fight to continually release, to let go, to walk away, to abandon... and because it's all inward, we find it comes creeping in when we're unaware. Before we know it, the jealousy that we thought we were rid of is growing darkness in our heart...again. Sometimes the surrender feels defeating... sometimes it feels impossible.

Day-to-day, moment-by-moment... surrender. Continually letting go, continually relinquishing, continually battling to be freed from the sin that so easily entangles.

And all of this day-to-day stuff is only possible when we've surrendered our whole selves. When we've fallen flat on our faces, admitting that we can do no good thing, recognizing our need for a savior. When we believe what Jesus has done for us on the cross and in the resurrection and we will do anything with our lives for Him.

Here...? At this point...?
Surrender means following.
It means obedience...no matter the cost.
It means total abandonment.
It means giving up, letting go, leaving behind what you thought you wanted for your life and admitting that it's probably going to look a lot different. It may mean being a pastor when you thought you'd be a lawyer....or being a lawyer when you thought you'd be a pastor. It may mean getting married when you thought you'd be single....or being single when you thought you'd be married. It may mean living overseas, it may mean living in a city. It may mean mean being poor... it may mean being rich.

But it means doing whatever it takes...while falling down and relying only on the grace of Christ to get back up again... because He is worth it.

It's a life of sacrifice.
A life a surrender.
A life that's not about us...but points directly toward the Creator, the Sustainer... the Father.

Surrender changes everything.
In the day-to-day... and in the greater picture of eternity.
Because, in the end, a life of surrender reminds us that we can do nothing...even when we do whatever it takes. We can't earn our rescue...and we'll still give into the day-to-day battles occasionally. Surrender is the continual admittance that we need Jesus over and over again. It's the living in the grace that He provides when we mess up while simultaneously still striving for the better.

Surrender.
It's not a one-time thing, friends.
And maybe that's what we forget most about surrender.

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