Full Surrender

In my Christian walk I’ve noticed something very specific about God: He doesn’t like part time Christianity. He fully expects us to be committed in our walk with Him. Christ knows when we are only in half way. In scripture, Christ calls this being lukewarm instead of hot or cold. There are consequences to only being “lukewarm” about our faith:

“I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other. So because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of My mouth! (Rev. 3:15-16).

I confess that I’m guilty of having offered God only parts of me only to realize that He wasn’t interested in a piecemeal offer. In fact, I found myself frustrated and fully chastised by the Lord for offering only parts of myself. At the time, I didn’t understand why God was disciplining me, but today I see that he was pruning me so that I could give Him my all and my very best:

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful,” (John 15:1-2).

It’s taken me years to achieve the calm presence of the Lord, but not without it’s hiccups of ignorance. I no longer fear the Lord and believe that He’s trying to hurt me - that’s what kept me from full surrender in the first place. I had pigeonholed the Lord by believing that He was only here to judge me and that’s never been the case at all. The Holy Spirit, God’s deposit of redemption, has continually had to remind me and bring scripture to mind to let me know that God would never forsake me or stop providing:

“In order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, would be for the praise of His glory. And in Him you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, having heard and believed the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. The Spirit is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.…(Eph 1:12-14).

The Lord understands that we are fearful of losing control of our own lives - in fact, it’s contrary to our human nature to surrender, because we want to maintain control! But He does state in scripture that full surrender is necessary:

“Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship,” (Rom 12:1).

Not only are we to surrender ourselves but everything in our lives that affect us - everyday endeavors and experiences:

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it,” (Matt 16:24-25).

Jesus is a friend to those who love Him; however, His blessing is not available to the unsurrendered life. I cannot emphasize enough that God wants all aspects of our existence, not pieces of it. God’s calling is for a whole Christian willing to walk in His ways. A life of purpose is available to any and all for the asking. The key is that you have to be willing to “take up your cross” to walk with Him wherever He might lead you. There is an innate sense of fear to surrender to an unknown, but if you remember Who you are surrendering to you’ll have peace in your heart knowing that you left everything to follow Him. Leave your sinful ways behind and fully surrender to the love and purpose he has to offer:

“"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me,” (Gal 2:20).