Living A Surrendered Life
12 PILLARS_FAITHFULNESS
Submission to God is often talked about but we don’t always talk about surrender. I like to define submission as being obedient and surrender as letting go of control. We like to control our own lives, so we give God partial control or allow God to control only over the things which are beyond our capabilities. We cry for Jesus to take the wheel but take it back when we feel we can manage. If you are strong-willed (always seeking your will first), a first born (being overly responsible), a control freak (afraid to lose your grasp), struggle with pride (an unrealistic belief about yourself), have selfish ambition (always praying for God to give you what you want), or ever been engulfed in a co-dependent relationship (seeking man’s assistance over God), you may find giving God control even harder. We give God the reigns only when it feels beneficial to us and it is aligned with our will. There is nothing wrong with giving God the desires of your heart and asking for what you believe you need, the problem is when we do not subject these desires to God’s will. Praying this way is praying for our will to be done and if it does not align with God’s will for us, our prayers will go unanswered. We then end up battling with uncertainty, confusion, disappointment, frustration and lack of direction. Proverbs 3:5-7 reminds us to trust God and allow Him to direct our path.
Surrender starts with a choice. As Christians, we have free will, but we use our free will to make the choice to follow God and surrender to Him. Surrender is often a battle of the wills that feels like a wrestling match. We wrestle with God for control of our lives; He pins us down to show us the blessings He has for us, but we want our own way, so we pin Him down with our pride and rebellion. He counters again with a blessing, a hope and a future hold, but we pin Him down again with our pride and rebellion hold until we tire out and concede by pounding the mat. This wrestling can continue like a cycle in our life until we choose to live a surrendered life. We can begin to live a surrendered lifestyle when we accept God’s sovereignty. Job is an example of faithfulness to God and His sovereignty. In all Job’s suffering he did not sin nor blame God. He accepted God’s sovereignty to do as He pleases and remained confident in God’s goodness (Job 23). In this chapter, Job is acknowledging he does not know the way God takes, but God knows the way we take. Job said after God has tried him, he will be refined as gold. Job realized surrender was for his benefit not God’s. We do not know the way to go but God does. Surrendering is never easy because control and exercising our will gives us a false sense of safety and security. We want to control our careers, marriage, children, where we live etc. but when we don’t seek God for his will in these matters of life, we have less than his best. His plans for us is always better than our plans. Thinking our way is better than God’s is a fallacy. True safety is being in the shelter of a loving savior and Lord
If there are areas in your life that you are trying to control, remember control as we typically think of it is a fallacy in Christianity. Control is to have power and authority of something or someone and Christians are not permitted to do that because we would be taking God’s place in someone’s life. The only person we can rightfully “control” is ourselves, but even so, we elect to give that control over to God. We often make choices based on whatever we see at the moment. We struggle with having faith in God to change it, so we get fearful and think it’s going to remain the same. Then we make emotional and impulsive decisions that don’t serve us. God is better able to lead and direct us because His view is long-range and long-term; He has the power to change circumstances. He knows our potential challenges, and He can also see a situation from perspectives we have no capability to reach. He may advise you not to take a job in one city because He has plans to bless with you with a better job in a different city, but we are afraid we will not have another opportunity like this one, so we accept the job offer. He may advise you not to date someone because He knows the spouse He has intended for you will arrive in your life soon, but you feel lonely when you’re not in a relationship, so you pursue anyway what turns out to be a hurtful situationship. He may advise you to wait to have children because you need to develop patience first, but you have the child too soon and struggle with yelling at them for minor matters which causes you to feel guilt and condemnation and your child experiences low self-esteem. While these scenarios may feel extreme, we do this and more all the time. It is best for us to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and ability to create better outcomes for us than we can create for ourselves. We then become stewards of the life God has gifted us and use it for His glory. When we get in a habit of surrender to God’s will, we get in a habit of having God’s best for our lives. In Matthew 11:29, Jesus asks us to take His yoke upon us. A yoke was like a harness that tied two oxen together so they could plow the field as a pair. The yoke required that they walk and work in unison. It didn’t allow them to go their own way. If you are walking left and your partner is walking right, you will not end up in the same place. This is how it is with us and God. If we go our own way and get misaligned with God, we ultimately are not following Him. We are moving in the direction of our will and missing His. The yoke ensures surrender and consistency. Our best course of action is to create a lifestyle of surrender, where we seek God’s will over our own, submit in obedience and follow Him. Practice surrender daily by exchanging control for choice and ask yourself if your choice reflects God’s will. Living a surrendered life puts God in the pilot seat. We become passengers, safely going wherever he takes us, trusting that He knows the way
