The Long Surrender

The word surrender is not a concept that engages a people or a society that embraces freedom. We don't want to yield control to anyone or anything. We want to 'call the shots' and control our destinies. When we encounter Jesus in the Bible we shudder when we hear his calls to surrender and service. Jesus has the gall to call us to full surrender. Hear it in his bold command, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." In our church culture we have reduced the cross to a well designed piece of jewelry. But in the historical reality of Jesus day the cross was an instrument of death.

What was Jesus really saying to those who would follow him? When is a "Christian" really a follower of the Christ? Have we reduced the meaning of being a Christian so far that is no longer has any real meaning in line with what Jesus was saying? Self denial? To live on behalf of another? To live for another King & his kingdom (purposes and plan)?

When we reduce Christ followers entry point to a momentary decision based on a formulaic prayer we create a man made 'believer' and not a true disciple. Surrender in the terms that Jesus commanded involves a long surrender....until we leave this life and enter the forever world we call heaven.

Surrender truly does mean to yield control to another. It's a scary word when we don't know the character and person of the one to whom you're yielding your very life. The reason why we have so many superficial 'Christians' is that you cannot yield full control to anyone you don't really know. Before we can follow anyone, we must first know them. 

Perhaps in our desire to 'make disciples' we cause people to miss the Christ they so desperately need to know. When we hurry the process of leading people to the great lover who is God, we abort the process of new life. What a tragedy to train people to 'be a Christian' apart from knowing Jesus Christ. When we push and cajole people insteady of listening and loving them, we do more harm than we imagine. God isn't hiring people to work for him....his call is first to know and love him.... and in the knowing we yield, we surrender, we become.... and we bear fruit.

The long surrender only makes sense when we know to whom we are yielding full control. When we know the love of the One who calls us to surrender, we're more free than we have ever been. When we lift our hands in full surrender, we find ourselves in a place we were created for.....Home.
Jim