"I surrender all. I surrender all. All to Thee my blessed Savior, I surrender all."
Simple words. Simple tune. Simple predictability that if you grew up in the church, as I did, or if you've frequented camp meeting, as I have, or if you ever found your way to any kind of special missions service, as I've done, this song would be sung. Probably more than once. With an indefinite amount of repeat signs peppered throughout.
The concept of surrender is simple.
The reality of surrender is intense.
I'm finding myself in a position of understanding that not one day passes that there isn't something I need to surrender.
Some days, like the day I posted this, it's my fears that must be let go of.
Some days, it's my hopes.
Some days, it's my stuff.
And some days, it's God's yet-to-be-filled-in-a-way-I-can-see-them promises to me.
Plans, dreams, money, time, fears, hurts, ideas, fame, attitudes, children, the past, the present, the future, our rights, or the vague yet ever-present umbrella of "the unknown." Anything that can stand in the way of dancing cheek to cheek with my Savior. It's gotta go.
In our society, surrender is often equated with defeat.
I beg to differ.
Victory. Freedom. Life fulfilled. It all comes through that little phrase...
"All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all."
I remember my mind-set as a teenager that as long as I surrendered once, maybe twice a year, I was good to go. That was acceptable. Showed that I was open to God, but not too desperately out to lunch. After all, pastor's kids have a reputation to uphold, right?
I probably held on to that mindset longer than I would care to let on...or even realize.
The thing is, is that if I'm truly doing my best to walk in stride with Christ, I will have a constant attitude of surrender. A constant need to surrender. A constant desire to surrender. Big stuff. Little stuff. In between stuff. Anything that keeps me from pressing into Jesus and becoming more like Him. It. Must. Go.
God has never been as real to me as He is now. And my goal is to be able to say that each and every day. My goal, or rather my commitment, is to grow closer and closer and closer to Him, allowing Him to be more relevant and real and rich in my life. I'm humbled at the work He has done in my life, the ways that He is restoring me and the future that He has in mind for me. As I see certain elements of that unfold, it leaves me a little shell shocked at times. In a good way. Yet I'm also aware that even those promises, those hopes and dreams, the "good" stuff that He has assured me are coming down the pike...those need to be surrendered, too. Because they will likely involve some growing pains, which are never fun. And it will never look the way I think it will look. At least, I hope it doesn't...because His imagination far surpasses mine.
Surrender requires vulnerability. Letting go. Faith. Unknowningness.
But in putting myself in that "oh wow...this is kinda scary" place, it allows Someone else to swoop it and do the "I'll take it from here" thing. And I like that. I REALLY like that.
Today is a significant day. Do not ask my why. I do not know. I just know it's a significant day because God told me it was going to be. Every other time He's warned/promised me a day was going to be an important one in my life, He has come through on that warning/promise. And I do think sometimes it is just as much of a warning as it is a promise because God's significance often shows up in ways that I do not desire or predict. And it often comes with resistance from the enemy. But it's always really, really good. So though He has promised today will be significant, I have to surrender that right back to Him. I may not understand for 25 years why the significance. Or, it may be quite obvious. It's happened both ways over recent seasons of life, well, except the 25 year thing. That's a ways down the road...but you get what I'm saying.
As I've been praying this morning, I realize just how much significance and surrender go hand in hand. Because though there have been particular days that God promised and delivered specific and special significance, the bottom line is this:
Each day that I live a surrendered life is significant.
Significant now. Significant eternally.
Significant in my life. Significant in the lives of every other person I come into contact with.
Sometimes that significance is tangible, physical, see-able. Sometimes it is not. But it's significant because living a surrendered life means living a life that God is free and clear to move and do and be. And that right there is about as significant as it gets.
Letting go. Surrendering. Whatever else you want to call it...it's never easy. It means turning our backs on what we know, what comforts us, what is predictable, on our own ability to control. It leaves us feeling naked. Perhaps frightened.
But it also opens us up to a whole new world of possibility. A whole new level of living. As cliche as that may sound, it's so very true.
Let me just say, that if you've ever wondered if God is going to take care of you or do what is truly best for you as you go through the surrendering process...if you've ever wondered if you can really trust Him with that terribly uncomfortable and vulnerable position of surrender...if you've ever questioned if there is a need to surrender every single nook and cranny of your life to Him...
Let me just say that He will. You can. And there is.
0 comments:
Post a Comment