“I surrender
all…”
The above
line is from a popular contemporary Christian worship song. Every time I hear that line or even sing it,
I think to myself, “Really?”
Have I
surrendered it all? Has the writer of that song surrendered it all? If so, then why aren’t there lyrics teaching
us how to surrender it all?
I’ve blogged
about surrender before, but I’m still not satisfied with my understanding, or
lack thereof, about being totally surrendered to God. I’m also unsure what the
difference is between being totally surrendered to God and just plain old
resignation, giving up or caving in.
How does
total surrender avoid becoming fatalism? For instance, is the phrase “It must
be God’s will” really code for saying, “I can’t do anything about it, so I give
up.” Or perhaps we think that “it’s predestined this happens, so I’m helpless.
Now where’s that remote.”
How do we
tell the difference between circumstances that truly are unchangeable, where
God’s grace is sufficient for us; versus understanding that God is calling us to
do something in the circumstances to change them? Am I really destined to have
health conditions all my life, or is God expecting me to do something to
mitigate the health conditions? Are the hungry destined to be hungry so I might
as well drive by the guy with the sign asking for food? Or is this cowardice and avoidance of the human
condition when I could easily hand him a granola bar and an apple?
In other
words, when does total surrender also involve taking action, taking personal
responsibility?
I return to
the health condition example. While medical interventions are necessary and
helpful at times; I can take daily responsibility over my own behavior that
will produce greater and more positive results immediately. I can easily choose
to eat healthy and get regular exercise. Or, I could shrug my shoulders, mope
that I have health conditions, and slowly morph into Jabba the Hut.
Surrender then
seems to be a combination of accepting the health conditions while equally
accepting that God expects and enables me to not let the conditions control my
life and overrun my soul. So to in other areas of life, such as sharing our
faith, helping to feed the hungry, or helping friends or family in need. But
sadly I sense that many people view total surrender as equating to total
inaction. I’m inert, therefore I’m
totally surrendered. Somehow, I think
not. Jesus was totally surrendered, and He was also a man of action—lot’s of
action.
He
[Jesus] was moved with compassion for them, and he healed their sick. When it
was evening, His disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a deserted place, and
the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the
villages and buy themselves food.”
But
Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to
eat.” (Matthew 14:14-16)
This record
astounds me, especially since it goes on to say that the disciples were beside
themselves about how they were going to feed ten to fifteen thousand people
(the text says 5,000 men, the men likely had wives, children and/or others with
them; so the number could easily have been up to 15,000!). Jesus didn’t panic,
though. A little boy brought Him what was basically a sack lunch with five
loaves and two fish. Jesus took these ingredients, thanked His Father for the sustenance
and then commenced feeding an impossible amount of people in an impossible way.
Jesus,
totally surrendered to His Father, was obviously a man of action. Just in this
record alone, we see Him take action by healing the sick and feeding thousands
of people. And inserted between these two events was His command to His
disciples: “You give them something to eat.”
So as I struggle
to figure out what being totally surrendered means, I can be assured that it
isn’t fatalism or nihilistic disregard for life. But it does have high doses of prayer,
compassion, and action.
