Surrendering Control

Generally, surrender means to give up something or  control  over something. If you think about the military, surrender would mean giving up control of your soldiers and sometimes even your country to the control of another country. Such as in World War II when Japan surrendered to the United States and gave control of their country over to the United States. But there are other ways that we are surrendering our control to something or someone either conditionally or unconditionally.

In our walks with God, are we unconditionally surrendering control of our lives to him, are we surrendering with conditions, or not actually surrendering at all. When we unconditionally surrender control to God, it looks like trust, freedom, reliance on Him; totally letting go. On the other hand, conditional surrender is on our own terms which makes us feel safe, we can predict how things will turn out and we still actually have control. In that case, we are not trusting God to lead and guide us, we are holding back from true release and freedom in Christ.

Jesus laid it out very well in Luke 9:23-26. Sometimes people read that verse and see “take up their cross” as punishment. But that is the wrong perspective. It is the idea of giving over control because we love God. Surrender is not for our personal gain or benefit but God does bring blessings to those who truly love and seek him. Unconditional surrender to God is an intimate and personal choice with our God-given free will to give our desires, our hopes and dreams, our everything to him knowing and believing that he will lead us into a future filled with his
goodness.

We have the most incredible example of unconditional surrender from Jesus himself in Matthew 26: 36-45. Here we read about Jesus’ struggles with the reality of what was to come for him which was to be beaten and to be hung on a cross for our sins. But he surrendered to his father’s will and trusted in the plan for salvation of the world. Yet just a few days before this Jesus had seen crowds cheering and praising him in what we refer to now as Palm Sunday. Matthew 21:1-11. Today we remember Palm Sunday as the beginning
of the last days of Jesus’ life on earth and the leading up to his death and resurrection. So todayand this week, reflect on the fact that Jesus freely and unconditionally surrendered, he accepted the shame, the beatings and suffering because it was God’s plan to provide us with salvation. His surrender was for us. He committed no sin, he was blameless. Yet he surrendered his will to the Father for you and me.

In closing, let’s all think about what we might be holding onto and haven’t unconditionally
surrendered to God. It’s truly time to give it to God so that we can grow our relationship with him and have freedom and praise king Jesus without conditions. Let’s surrender to Jesus. Surrender the guilt, shame, fear, pride, whatever it is that is holding you back from being closer to God, it’s time to surrender.