‘If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross.’ Matthew 16:24 CEV
Surrender is not the same thing as passivity. God’s will for your life involves exercising creativity, making choices, and taking initiative. Surrender does not mean being a doormat; it does not mean you accept circumstances with resigned patience. Often it means you will have to fight to challenge the status quo. It doesn’t mean that you stop using your mind, stop asking questions, or stop thinking critically. Surrender is not a crutch for weak people who cannot handle life.
Instead, surrender is the glad and voluntary acknowledgment that there is a God, and He is not you. His purposes are wiser and better than your desires. Jesus doesn’t come to rearrange the outside of your life the way you want; He comes to rearrange the inside of your life the way God wants. In surrender, you let go of your life. You recognise that you are no longer the centre of the universe, and you put God there. You yield to Him. You offer obedience. You do what He says.
Jesus was very clear on this point: ‘Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies [to self] it produces many seeds.’ (John 12:24 NIV) How do you live a productive and fruitful life? By dying to yourself daily.
DL Moody said the world has yet to see what God can do with one person who is totally surrendered to Him. Today, kneel and pray, ‘Lord, take me, shake me, break me, and make me what You want me to be.’ That’s a prayer He will answer.
SoulFood: Job 15–17, Luke 17:20–37, Ps 19, Pro 8:6–7
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright 2024
