Surrender

 There is a word I think far too many Churches in our current wordview are shying away from: Surrender. It's not a popular word for sure. It is full of negative connotations. But what does it actually mean? In the most basic sense it means choosing not to fight. It's a laying down of arms and becoming obedient to another authority. And I would argue that it is one of the most important concepts to Christianity. 

This is what Christ-followers are called to. We give up control. (Not that we had much in the first place--we seem highly delusional about how much control in life we really have.) But what we do have, we give up. We hold EVERYTHING with open palms to God and say, "your will... not mine." And the completely crazy thing is, though we are called to this, God doesn't demand anything less than he already gave! We are being asked to surrender everything to a God who already surrendered everything for us. 

Yes, as the rich young ruler discovered, this kind of surrender costs everything. There is no, "I'll keep this part for myself." BUT it is with this kind of surrender that God used 12 men to change the known world. 

I get it. It's scary. Completely. And if we let it, that fear will erode our faith. What if his way is "too hard?" what if I have to give up "too much?" What if it leaves me unfulfilled? What if it hurts? But what about the other side? What if I get to the end of my life and it feels wasted? What if "my way" leaves me feeling worthless and lonely? What if in the end after all my striving, I lose it all? Think of Peter and Judas in the bible. Peter made plenty of mistakes, but he was the disciple that climbed out of a boat to walk on water. Judas gets a lot of judgement (but honestly probably did a lot right. I mean he was a disciple of Jesus) but in the end he hanged himself. Why? Because he regretted taking matters into his own hands...

Giving up control is a huge risk, but honestly, is it any less of a risk than trying to keep that control? Because here's the thing: God doesn't compete. He doesn't share his glory with other things (or people.) He gets to be God whether we like it or not. But this is a good thing! Because God is GOOD. As in that is part of his identity. We can act good... sort of... sometimes. But he IS good. He knows our wants and needs and he is not some passive Being eons away. He is here. Wherever "here" is for you. 

Another word that is actually quite popular at the moment is Relationship. God isn't looking for a chess piece on his board. And honestly, I don't think he's project oriented. My guess--he's people oriented. So surrender with him sometimes looks like "What are you doing today and how can I help?" Sometimes that looks like walking across the room to talk to someone you don't know. Sometimes it looks like loving the kid God brought into your life. Sometimes it looks like selling all you have and moving half a world away. Sometimes it looks like doing laundry. It's God's call. And He's the one that will walk with you. Sure, you'll mess up. He'll be there when that happens too. If I had to map it, the cycle would look like this: 

Surrender-->Live in Relationship-->Mess up-->Admit to it-->Accept forgiveness-->Surrender. 

Wish I could put it in a circle, but you get it. This is the calling. And in my (not so) humble opinion it is "so totally worth it!" 

 P.S. A lot of this comes from Jenny Allen so if you like anything I wrote--totally give her credit! If you didn't... blame me ;)