Do You Surrender All?

 

It's so easy and comforting  to sing: "I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all."

“I Surrender All” is that hymn of old that most of us have sung many times. But do we surrender all? Do we cease living against God and submit to His authority.

Do I surrender everything I have? Do I surrender the pleasures of this world? Do I surrender the anger I have towards another? Do I surrender my wrong desires? Do I surrender my time to give to His work?

It’s an easy thing to say, but a hard thing to do. It’s an everyday battle. But God asks us to surrender all and follow Him.

Spurgeon put it this way: “It is what angels do, what kings and prophets have done, what the best of men delight in—there is therefore no dishonor nor sorrow in so doing. All nature is submissive to His laws; suns and stars yield to His behests, we shall but be in harmony with the universe in willingly bowing to His sway. ‘Submit yourselves unto God’—you must do it whether you are willing to do so or not. Who can stand out against the Almighty?”

C.S. Lewis: “If we wish to know Christ more intimately and be transformed into His likeness, there is no other way. We must die daily. It starts with a full surrender of our lives—all we are and all we have—to the Father. Then, with the Holy Spirit’s help, we must reaffirm this surrender, choice by choice, as life unfolds before us. Granted, this will sometimes be hard, but it is the most direct path to where we wish to go. And as we follow it, we will come to know Christ evermore deeply and grow in the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that characterized His life on earth.”

In Luke 14:33 it says: “In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.”

The path is clear. We all must surrender everything to Jesus. The next time you sing “I Surrender All” make sure your heart is in line with the words you are saying. It’s what we want. It’s just hard to do. Every day. Every minute.

You want everlasting joy in your life? Surrender it all. Second by second.

“All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give;

I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.”

By His Grace . . .