In today’s world, surrender makes no sense. Don’t give up on your dreams. Don’t give up on your pursuits. Don’t let anyone else tell you what you can and cannot do. These statements sound innocent enough, but they are often cute-sounding lies. When life is all about me and what I want, surrender equals defeat.
But what does Paul mean when he says in Romans 12:1 that being a living sacrifice is our reasonable act of worship. Some Bible translations translate the word “reasonable” as “spiritual,” but the best understanding of the original Greek word is “logical.” How on earth can living daily as a living sacrifice be logical?
Unless what you surrender to is better than what you are holding back. I have been working with school-aged students since 2002. One constant theme through these two decades is seeing students holding so fiercely on to something that ultimately does not bring them joy, only heartache. But our enemy is so crafty. The package around so many things of this world has such allure. The promise always overshoots the delivery.
Paul tells us that presenting ourselves as a living sacrifice is our reasonable or logical act of worship. What that means to us is that if we really grasped what is offered to us by the God who created this whole world and everything in it, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who sent His son to die a death that we deserved, then we would have no other logical conclusion than to daily present ourselves as living sacrifices.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 says, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”
We are always offering ourselves in an act of worship to something. Something is always getting the top spot of our time, attention, money, effort, love, and lives. The question is, “what or who are we offering ourselves to?” Families, can I offer an observation? Nothing is more fully satisfying and joyfully complete than surrendering your life to Jesus. Does it cause you to stop doing things you like but shouldn’t? Yes. Does it cause you to start doing some things you’d rather not? Yes. Is it all worth it? Absolutely, yes.
So, how does this concept of surrender play out in school, at home, and at your church? That is what we will explore over the next few weeks and months.
There is no Christian life without surrender.