Surrender

There’s a wonderful hymn entitled “I Surrender All” that says:

“All to Jesus I surrender

all to Him I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to the my blessed savior

I surrender all.”



What does it mean to truly surrender? The word surrender conjures up images of someone guilty being caught, maybe one more cookie from the jar and the lights suddenly turn on, “caught with your hand in the jar” you admit to the crime and head to bed, cookie less and sad. Maybe whoever caught you ended up at the kitchen table with cookies and a glass of milk, giggling that a late night snack was just what they were looking for too. Either way surrender has different outcomes. What do you think of when you hear the word surrender? The dictionary defines the word surrender as “to give up, or give back”, to yield or relinquish”. At times it is to give up control, at others to give up something you have. No matter what you must give up something.

Jesus took the word surrender quite literally. He gave his life as the ultimate surrender so that you could gain your life. Matthew 10:39 says “Those who try to hold on to their lives will give up true life. Those who give up their lives for me will hold on to true life.” Romans chapter six and twelve tell us we are to surrender ourselves as “living sacrifices” to God to be used in doing good. Christ came to bring new life. Colossians 3:10 says “you have begun to live a new life, in which you are being made new and becoming like the One who made you.”

Ruth surrendered herself for the sake of her mother-in-law; the apostles surrendered their lives for the sake of Christ whom they followed to His death and after. David was even willing to surrender himself to a life on the run until such a time as God saw fit to make him King. Being a Christian means “surrender”. It means being willing to give up what you have to gain even more. Kelly Minter in her study on Ruth says “What Christ can do with a willing life surrendered at His feet is more than we can comprehend.” We are all at risk of missing what Christ has in store if we continue to hold onto what we must surrender.

Are you holding onto this life; those old habits? Do you fall back into the patterns of life before Christ when the going gets tough? Are you holding onto a grudge, bitterness, anger? Surrender the old today. Ephesians 4:22-24 tells us to put off the old and become as a new person in Christ. Surrender the old, put on the new. Surrender can be a good thing, what do you need to give up today to make all things new? Tell Jesus what you need to surrender and sing of what you freely give the Savior who surrendered all.