I Surrender All

24. May 2010 by Annette Colon-Alvarenga.

Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ”Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him.

Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. - Matthew 4:18-22

These passages of scripture remind me of one of my favorite old hymns, I Surrender All. It goes like this: All to Jesus I surrender; all to him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live. I surrender all, I surrender all, all to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.  That’s exactly what these disciples did. It was a complete surrender. They didn’t think twice; they didn’t ask Jesus where they were going, what were they to do or how long the journey would be; they didn’t know what lay before them. Jesus said, “Come” and they simply followed.

The idea of total surrender can be daunting even to the most ardent Christian. The idea that God’s will for your life may be completely different from the plans you have made is a notion that is not easy to reconcile. Yet, if you are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” it will require that Jesus be the center of your life; that nothing else take first place in your life. It requires a complete surrender of your entire life, dying to yourself so that you can truly live in God’s will.One of my favorite passages of scripture (and I have many “favorites”) is Philippians 3:7-9:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

In this passage, Paul describes a spiritual transaction that took place when Christ redeemed him. He has a ledger wherein he lists all of his worldly gains: disciple of Gamaliel, expert in the law, social status, he was as he called himself, “a Pharisee of Pharisees” and he had material wealth by the standards of that time. But when Paul saw the glory of Christ he realized that nothing else could possibly stand in comparison. All that he thought of as gain or important in his life, he now saw as of no importance or value in his life outside of Christ.

What if we were to do that today? What if we took a piece of paper and drew a line down the middle. If we listed on one side all of those “things,” whether they be material items or whether they be our family, our businesses, our personal goals and dreams; and then on the other side of the line simply write down the name of Christ. What side of that paper would you contemplate? And what if Jesus was to say to you, “I know how hard you have worked for all of this; I know that you have longed for this specific thing; and I know your desires as it relates to this thing. But I ask that you come and follow me. I ask that you give up everything and simply follow me to where I will lead you.”  My question to you today is, would you?  Would you be able to walk away from it all in order to follow Jesus?

Sin is a given – you have to give it up if in fact you are a new creation. But what of the things in our lives that are not sin? Many times it seems that we ask for God to reveal His will for our lives, and we can’t seem to understand why He is silent. I believe that the reason God remains silent is because we have already planned out our lives, our will, and in reality what we seek is that God come alongside our plans and conform His will to ours. I also believe that God will reveal these things to us when our hearts are submitted to Him; when we have completely surrendered all to Him.

Some years ago I learned a lesson in surrender. See, I longed to have a third child. I had two boys already but wanted one more child. Although at the time I would go to church every Sunday, I couldn’t really call myself a Christian given the way I lived my life outside of that hour I was at Church on Sunday. But in late 2003 I had a personal encounter with God and I surrendered my life to Christ, although I will admit that I did not count the cost at the time. I would pray, “Lord I want what you want for my life” and within a few months I became pregnant. I believed God had answered my prayer, but I had a miscarriage just 9 weeks later. Needless to say, I was devastated and dumbfounded. Had I not asked for what He wanted for my life?

We were told that we would have to wait several months before trying to become pregnant again and so my husband and I did. When the time came, I went to the Lord in prayer. While I was seeking His guidance, it was really a matter of the heart for me – I couldn’t go through another miscarriage and wanted a straight answer from God. While I still longed to have another child, I would not risk going against God’s will and risk losing another child. And so on a specific Saturday morning I went face down before the Lord and He answered me, “No. No more children.” I did not understand at the time but I made a decision that day that when God says “no” I would not circumvent His direction for my life. I did not argue with God; I did not ask Him again; I did not try to find a reason or explanation for what I deemed at the time to be unreasonable. I simply surrendered that desire in my life to Him. Have I looked back and thought “what if. . .” Of course I have. But upon surrendering to God that part of my life, He has over time placed an incredible peace and hope in me that can only come from living in obedience to God’s will. And later, when I was ready, He would in fact reveal to me the specific purpose for His answer. But that revelation came only after I made the decision to follow Him.

Is there something in your life that would prevent you from heeding Jesus’ call to you to “come” and follow Him? If it is sin in your life, there is no question about what you must do. But if it is not sin, is there a sacrifice you deem too great or a matter you have not yet offered up to God? It’s time we take inventory of our hearts and surrender, once and for all, all that needs to be given up.

All to Jesus I surrender
all to him I freely give
I will ever love and trust him,
in his presence daily live.
I surrender all, I surrender all
All to thee, my blessed Savior
I surrender all.

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