have I surrendered my life to Christ?
“Surrendering to God” can be one of those “Christian” phrases that we hear a lot, but are left feeling confused about.
After sharing that “surrender” is my word for this new year, I received a flood of DM’s and emails, asking questions like this.
“How do I know if I’ve surrendered to God? How do I surrender to God? Is there a way to know if I’ve truly surrendered?”
“Does it look like reading a Christian book instead of watching Netflix? Is it becoming a missionary instead of going to university?”
Can I just take a moment to applaud you? To affirm your desire to be wholly surrendered to Christ? There is nothing more beautiful or worthwhile to pursue — even if it’s confusing or unknown.
So let’s break it down.
When we think of the word “surrender”, what’s the first thing that usually comes to mind?
If we’re on the same wave length, you may be picturing two armies engaged in a battle. One army sees that they’re outnumbered and losing the fight so they string a white rag on a stick and surrender.
When an army surrenders, they admit that they can’t withstand anything more. They’re acknowledging that they need to make a change.
Now let’s look at surrender in terms of our identity as Christians. The reality in Christ is that we were once enemies — on the other side of the war, against God (Romans 5:10). Before Christ, there was no submission. There was no surrender. There was no acknowledgement of the magnitude of Him. We were our own masters, doing our own thing.
But then BOOM.
A miracle happens. We’re born again and everything takes a turn — for the better. Once we’ve made the choice to give our lives to God, we’re also faced with the reality and necessity of not holding anything back because we’ve been given NEW LIFE (2 Cor. 5:17).
Although we’ll wrestle with our “old man”, our old way of life that wants to fight against God… we’re given a new operating system and that is the HOLY SPIRIT.
The Spirit, our Guide, will enable us to do what He asks of us. We’ll be eager, in His power, to surrender. Why? Because God’s an overpowering, suffocating, controlling God? Not at all. Let’s see what He has to say about the benefit and beauty of obeying God and surrendering our lives.
Jesus said, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. (Luke 9:23-24 ESV)
Hold up. That seems pretty intense, Jesus. Why would a loving Savior ask His disciples and children to deny themselves and lose their lives?
Scripture Breakdown:
In the context of this passage, Jesus had just finished foretelling, preparing His disciples with the reality that He came to suffer and will soon die.
Right after that, Jesus moves into the passage we just read about discipleship — what it really means to be a disciple of Jesus, what God requires.
When Jesus says, “come after Me”, it refers to becoming a disciple. It means following Him essentially. When Jesus says, “deny himself”, He isn’t saying to ban their lives and not go about living on this earth. On the contrary — He’s implying that a true disciple must relinquish personal control over their own life.
“Taking up his cross” means loving Jesus enough, making a personal commitment to Jesus, to stick with Him, even through rejection and death. “Follow me” means not just literally traveling with Jesus like the disciples, but obeying His teachings and Father.
You see, in Christ, there’s no longer any value to gain the whole world because it leads to losing our souls. When we hold onto this temporary life with a death grip, we’ll inevitably find it less valuable than our ultimate purpose and eternity
How is that truth sitting in your heart? It’s undoubtedly a hard one to hear sometimes. It’s undoubtedly a hard one to put into practice when the world is so tempting — when Jesus says that we have to give up control over the life we want to create… when Jesus says that there will be trials, persecution and death.
But that’s what it means to count the cost. That’s what it means to be a true, disciple of Christ.
Ask yourself: Is God enough for me? Is what He sent His Son Jesus to do on the cross enough for me? Is that alone worth giving up control over my life, knowing that He is the best life planner, evident coordinator and promise keeper?
It’s not until we truly know WHO God is and have grasped WHAT He’s done for us that we can confidently say: “Yes, God. No matter how hard it is, no matter how hard it is to let go of control, I trust You.”
Friend, that right there is surrender. ^
That right there is living wholly surrendered to Christ. And it may be a daily process, where you remind yourself in the moment that God is worth it. That He didn’t have to save us on the cross and reconcile us from enemy to friend. That He didn’t have to give us a new life and eternity.
BUT HE DID. And now my duty… my command to obey as a disciple is to surrender. To take up my cross, deny myself and follow Him. Why? Because He’s given me everything and that’s the least I can do. Because surrender to the God of the Universe is far better than control of my own.
Let’s get practical.
So what do we DO? How do we know if we’ve truly surrendered our life? How do we know if our actions are reflecting that trust and surrender?
You see, it’s not optional. Jesus says over and over in the gospels that true disciples are called to “deny themselves” and love Him more than all. He doesn’t say: “If you feel like it, deny yourself and surrender.” It’s an imperative.
But know this: Jesus doesn’t want us to live in fear. He doesn’t want us to lay our head down in bed at night, wondering if we truly surrendered or if we’ve fought the battle for Him well. So let’s get practical.
Speak on the truth of surrender.
John Piper says it like this: “Say to Jesus, and mean it with as much truthfulness as you can, ‘I love you Jesus. I love you more than anyone. I surrender all other loves as subordinate to You. I ask if there’s any deceit in me saying this, that you would take it away.’”
This isn’t only an exercise, but an act of giving God the credit and worship He is due. Repeat Scriptures out loud. Meditate on them. Find passages that tell you characteristics of God because the more you know God, the more you’ll trust and love Him. And then the more you trust and love Him, the more you’ll want to surrender and live by His Spirit’s power!
Remember that our hearts are deceitful and that they tend to want to follow our flesh. We don’t always want to say that statement truthfully. But admit to God your doubts or reservations or sins then ask that He would kill them.
Act on the truth of surrender.
Like the book of James reminds us, what is word without deed? Sure, like we mentioned above, it’s important to declare it with our mouths and hearts. But where is the evidence or fruit when we don’t live it out? When we don’t act accordingly to God’s truth?
Practically, this looks like going about your days and life with surrender and trust at the forefront. When you’re faced with a decision or situation, ask yourself: “Does this let God have the control over my life or does it allow me to hold on tightly? Does this action reflect my love of God first or my idolization of something else?”
With prayer, this can be your everyday reality. This looks like choosing to pray about a decision instead of rushing to your gut or what you want — acknowledging that God has the control and the best good in mind (Rom. 8:28-29).
Reflect on what has your attention in your life. What you put the most time into. What things, apps, people you may be captivated (or obsessed) by. Measure it up to God and His Word. Is it treasuring God first? Is it an act or decision that lines up with my commitment to follow God? Is it pure, lovely, honorable (Phil. 4:8-9)?
Pray for the gift of surrender and the assurance that you’re living it.
Like we’ve mentioned, we may have good intentions. We may want to desperately live wholly surrendered to God, but we’re human. We make mistakes. We fall short.
Maybe we question whether we’re actually living surrendered. But that will always be a doubt. So what’s the antidote? It comes down to asking your Heavenly Father to take the doubt away. To equip you through the Spirit who lives in you, to live surrendered against all odds.
It’s not one of those things that we can just repeat over ourselves and it’ll become true. As strong as our wills may be, we can’t just put our mind to surrender and it’ll be smooth sailing from there. WE NEED THE SPIRIT. WE NEED HIS EMPOWERING. So ask in full faith, in accordance to His will. Pray everyday to live wholly surrendered and put your disciplined actions toward that. Trust that God will help you do this because it’s just what He wants from His children.
