The Gift of Giving Up

The gift of giving up

At some point, we all surrender our lives to God. Some of us choose to do it voluntarily, while we walk the earth. Others surrender involuntarily, when their physical body dies. Surrendering while physically alive goes beyond recognizing and acknowledging the reality that we each belong to God. Similar to salvation, surrender is a gift we receive from God; we can't will it for ourselves. But also like salvation, the gift of surrender requires a response from us: acceptance. And there must be fruit: a changed life. It's not something we accept and then do nothing about. Any work we do will never get us salvation or surrender. But our work starts after we accept the gifts from God.

There is plenty of talk about submitting to God's will. In fact, submit and surrender are often used interchangeably. But beyond semantics, there are subtle yet critically important differences between submission and surrender.

Brennan Manning, in The Importance of Being Foolish, put it this way:

"But there is an essential difference between submission and surrender. The former is the conscious acceptance of reality. There is a superficial yielding, but tension continues...It is halfhearted acceptance. It is described by words such as resignation, compliance, acknowledgement, concession. There remains a feeling of reservation, a tug in the direction of non-acceptance. Surrender, on the other hand, is the moment when my forces of resistance cease to function, when I cannot help but respond to the call of the Spirit.
The ability to surrender is a gift of God. However eagerly we may desire it, however diligently we may strive to acquire it, surrender cannot be attained by personal endeavor."

Submission is something we can do, something we control. In surrender, we make the conscious choice to let go of that control, but the actual surrender is something only God can do. It is yet another gift from the Father to His children. When we submit, we "give in," keeping the focus on ourselves. When we surrender, we "give up," putting the focus where it belongs: on God. But it isn't giving up in the way we normally define it. The action is more like "giving over" in love. It is offered to us in love, by Love, for love. And we accept it the same way: in love, for love, out of love.

How do I surrender to God?

Our best example is Jesus. While here on earth, He didn't just submit, He surrendered. He handed Himself over to others, He emptied Himself completely. Out of the same motivation He came to Earth in the first place: love.

When we hear the phrase "surrender to God" we might think that we are going to stop living. The truth is: we will start living! Surrendering to God doesn't mean living without a purpose. Instead, it means to start living with a purpose - the purpose that God has planned for us.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"

God is saying that He has a plan for our lives! We can give up our selfish desires, put our futures in the hands of God, and He will take us far beyond our dream

Oswald Chambers puts it this way: *True surrender is not simply surrender of our external life but surrender of our will— and once that is done, surrender is complete. The greatest crisis we ever face is the surrender of our will. Yet God never forces a person’s will into surrender, and He never begs. He patiently waits until that person willingly yields to Him. And once that battle has been fought, it never needs to be fought again.

Surrender for Deliverance. “Come to Me . . . and I will give you rest” ( Matthew 11:28 ). It is only after we have begun to experience what salvation really means that we surrender our will to Jesus for rest. Whatever is causing us a sense of uncertainty is actually a call to our will— “Come to Me.” And it is a voluntary coming.

Surrender for Devotion. “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . . ” (Matthew 16:24). The surrender here is of my self to Jesus, with His rest at the heart of my being. He says, “If you want to be My disciple, you must give up your right to yourself to Me.” And once this is done, the remainder of your life will exhibit nothing but the evidence of this surrender, and you never need to be concerned again with what the future may hold for you. Whatever your circumstances may be, Jesus is totally sufficient (see 2 Corinthians 12:9 and (Philippians 4:19).

Beware of some surrender that you make to God in an ecstatic moment in your life, because you are apt to take it back again. True surrender is a matter of being “united together [with Jesus] in the likeness of His death” ( Romans 6:5 ) until nothing ever appeals to you that did not appeal to Him

*Excerpts from “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers

A Surrendered Life is dedicated to helping people get into a position so that God can grant them the gift of giving up, of surrendering their lives to Him. Our ministry as Christians, is one of sharing. We share the message of Christ, of course. And we strive to share His love. But we also work hard to share one of the main benefits of His message and His love: the true hope that only Jesus can provide. It's the hope that we don't have to hurt deep down inside, we don't have to worry, don't have to be angry, or scared, or sad. We can have an inner joy, complete peace, and total serenity now, here on earth. That is part of the Good News! But we must first surrender ourselves and our desire for joy, peace, and serenity to God. Like salvation itself, surrender isn't something we can do, only something we can accept from God. When we take that step to surrender to God we are saying “God I release control of my life to You! My focus is You O Lord and no longer me.” When you do that, God will know you are serious about abandoning all of your plans and desires for yourself for the Plans He has for you.(Jer. 29:11) You can be sure He will act to carry out His will for your life!

Our prayer is that the eyes of everyone's hearts will be opened to receive the gift of surrender to the LORD.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” (Proverbs 3:5)