Absolute Surrender

I was given a book for Christmas called ‘Absolute Surrender’. I haven’t started it yet, but the word ‘Surrender’ in the title struck me. The world does not prize surrender. It’s viewed as a sign of weakness. But the Bible doesn’t talk about surrendering to God in this negative way. In fact, it says that, although surrender is hard, it’s probably the most positive thing you can do.

The bible gives a call to surrender all before God, rather than surrendering to the carnal nature, which can be selfish and destructive. When you’re fully surrendered to God, you’re in pursuit of truth and righteousness above all else. But it’s the fact that, as we cast our fears to the cross more and more, we grow, not only in faith, but also become more surrendered, which struck me. Can we measure our faith then by the amount we surrender? I think we can.

Matthew 16:24 says, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me’. This means our heart must be pointing towards God and towards a life of following after Him. To ‘take up your cross’ means to empty yourself to such an extent that you can put yourself aside and lay down your life for God.

God will always show compassion when He’s expecting something of great sacrifice of us, as He expected of Abraham when He asked him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. But, isn’t the sacrifice worth it? In sacrifice, we’re merely emulating Jesus. He died on the cross to give us life we could never deserve. He was the first to absolutely surrender Himself to His Father. So, let’s be true disciples and embrace ‘Absolute Surrender’.

Prayer: Father God, help me to learn to trust You more and more, and enable me to surrender myself completely to You. Let me know Your great compassion for me as Your child, as I grow in my desire for Your will to rule over me and my carnal nature. Amen.