It seems to me that the Christian life is a life of surrender. Well, duh. We hear about it pretty much all the time, right? Well, I happen to think it’s true.

At the end of last year, we had a series of sermons from different people about “The Magnificent Surrender”.  They were all great, and if I recall correctly, they were mainly about the surrender to Jesus as saviour. That’s great, that’s a major theme in the Bible, and that’s where this post starts. Having said that, I think that there is more surrender to consider as we mature in Christ.

The surrender to salvation

Daryl Braithwaite’s album “Edge” has a song “In my life”, and it’s one of the saddest songs that I know. Here are the verses from the song.

Faith won’t save you
It’s too busy with its own
So save yourself or drown
Proofs are burning
Like the autumn leaves on the ground
They were swept there out the way

Goodbye heaven
It’s no place that I could go
I’d never save myself
Down salvation road
Walk people that I know
Yes I’m on my own from here

Yes, we can reject salvation, and we use so many reasons:

  • I don’t want to be saved
  • I don’t need to be saved
  • I don’t deserve to be saved
  • I can’t be saved
  • I’ll save myself

These are not statements of surrender, but of pride. We put ourselves above, below or beyond God’s reach, or simply deny him. If you believe any of these statements and can feel God calling you, it’s worth putting that belief aside, and surrendering so that you can be saved.

The surrender to love

As I said above, the “Magnificent Surrender” series of messages focused on us surrendering to Jesus to be saved. However, I think that there is a second surrender, and that is to Jesus’ love for us. For whatever reason, people don’t want to or can’t accept that love. The idea that God’s grace is given freely, that we can’t buy our salvation, seems to sit poorly with us. We keep trying to do things to buy his favour, and work for our salvation instead of simply receiving his love.

I wonder if there is something in me that resents someone who gives a gift, because of the perceived obligation, because I believe I have to return the favour. But from what I can tell, there is no justice involved in God’s love. It’s given freely, and there are no strings attached.

I started staying at church between services on Sunday. Not every Sunday, but maybe once a month. The church was generally empty by around 12.30pm, and nobody came back until 4.30pm, so I figured that I could get some alone time with Jesus, and maybe make sure the place was clean (physically and spiritually) for the evening services. So I was stretched out on the carpet at the front of the church, listening to some of Kimberly and Alberto Rivera’s instrumental music, but more, listening for his voice. And he did speak to me. He started out with “You know Phil, anyone could have stayed here this afternoon.” Then he paused. I started thinking. Well, that’s … hmm. Yep, anyone could. Maybe I should have tried to get someone else to stay. Maybe … Then he cut into my train of thought. “But I’m really glad it was you.”

I was getting all geared up to make myself of no account. Yes, anyone could have done it. Anyone could have fitted the bill. It didn’t have to be me, I’m just a cog … But no! He was glad it was me. Really glad. It brought me to tears.

Wide, wide as the ocean, high as the heaven above
Deep, deep as the deepest sea is my Savior’s love
I, though so unworthy, still am a child of His care
For His Word teaches me that His love reaches me everywhere

The surrender to use

God has a use for you, and it may not be what you think it is. I’m not talking about you being in ministry necessarily, I’m talking about you, walking out your salvation in fear and trembling, in love for him, and being who you were created to be.

I’m not saying that he will find a use for you. In my mind, this translates to God puttering around in his workshop, and discovering you sitting you there. He picks you up, turns you around, scratches his head, and says “Huh.” Then he starts looking around for some place you fit, something you’re good for. No! God will never find a use for you. He has created you with gifts and desires, and knows exactly what you’re good for. He knows the situations you’ll bring his light to, the people whose needs you’re perfectly suited to meeting.

There is a role for you, but you need to surrender to it.

Let me tell you another story. I’m very much a behind-the-scenes kind of a person. After a few years at church, our pastors started saying that I had a pastor’s heart, and when my wife and I started heading up the prayer functions of the church, they called us “prayer pastors”. Internally I rolled my eyes and rejected the label. I mean, pastors are all that, right? They’re out front. They’re public figures. Definitely not me.

Anyway, one Sunday, I’d rostered a few people on for pre-service prayer, and it turns out that none of them could make it, except me. So I figured I’d exchange quality for quantity, and instead of getting there an hour before the service, I’d start two hours early. So I was there, on my knees, when I heard someone else come into the building. It was the drummer, who is also in the church soccer team. I got up, and went to chat with him a bit. Turns out that it had been a good game the day before, and he was feeling pretty good about it. I wandered back to the prayer room (actually, it’s the mother’s room, but we repurpose it for such occasions).

I prayed for a bit longer, opening my heart to Jesus, and listening for what he wanted to do that morning. Then I heard someone else come in. It was one of the A/V folk, and we’d prayed for her at the prayer meeting the previous Wednesday. So I got up again, and went out for another chat. I asked how she was doing, and said that we’d been praying for her. She asked why, and I told her that we cared about her, and wanted things to go well for her. Shortly after I wandered back to the prayer room.

I kept praying, and then someone else came in. He’s a young dad, and I admire the way he’s walking out that sacred role. So I got up again, and strolled to the front of the church where he was standing. I told him that I love the way he’s going about being a dad. I just wanted to encourage him, you know? Let him know that what he’s doing isn’t just going unnoticed, and that he’s setting a great example.

Anyway, I wandered back to the prayer room, and didn’t get back on my knees again, because they’d had enough. I stood there for a moment, looking out of the window in the wall at these three people, and simply gave thanks to God for the three of them. He said, “Tend my sheep.”

Turns out that my knees hadn’t had enough, because I fell on them again and wept.

I have this idea that we are God’s currency in this world, and he will spend us as he sees fit. If you haven’t read it, Ted Dekker’s Heaven’s Wager illustrates this. The thing is, if I surrender to the calling on my life, if I reject the agenda that I’ve worked out independently of him, I’m going to delight in being spent by him, for him. Will it always be easy? No. But it will be right, and there will be peace.