Very few of us would seek to be lazy and unproductive. Instead, most of us possess some level of ambition. Whether it’s to perform well at our jobs, save for a pleasant retirement, raise successful children, or simply tackle chores around the house, all of us want to feel accomplished, which often spans multiple areas of our lives.
Though we each may have different definitions for success or excellence, we are all naturally driven to whatever those ends may be. There is certainly nothing wrong with a job well done (Proverbs 22:29; Colossians 3:23-24) and being rewarded for doing so. However, we often find our natural ambition challenging our unnatural surrender. There is a constant battle for control raging in each of us.
Though we were born dependent, we were taught early to be self-sufficient. We had to learn to talk, walk, and feed ourselves. Eventually, we had to learn to study (or fake it), work a job, and make something of our lives. We were trained on personal effort, and if we wanted something, we had to produce.
But that right there is the very problem with the Christian faith. It’s all based on something we could never earn or accomplish on our own. The grace that is extended to us is not our own. The faith that accepts this grace isn’t a product of our volition. Both are gifts, and both are offered freely to anyone who would receive them. However, there is one thing that we are not given, and that’s surrender.
There is one thing that we are not given, and that’s surrender.
The Christian faith is contrary to what we have learned—self-sufficiency. Perhaps this is why Jesus says we must be born again and become like children (Matthew 18:3; John 3:16). This Christian faith is just that—faith. It’s faith to rely on one we cannot see to receive what we cannot earn on our own efforts. It’s faith to give up and give over the reins of our lives. It’s faith to surrender all that we are and all that we have in order to gain all that we could ever need from one who is all our hearts ever truly wanted. In one word, to surrender is to trust.
But this trust isn’t natural nor comes in one singular moment. It is a learned trust. It is a practiced trust. It is a trust that is developed over time along the journey. As a child begins to walk by holding on to the edge of a table or holding a parent’s hand, we too must learn how to walk again. Like the child who can confidently jump from the top bunk into their father’s safe and sturdy arms, we too must recapture that trust in our heavenly father’s strength. And what began like baby steps, over time, will transition to running. But we must practice surrender; we must practice trusting.
It’s faith to surrender all that we are and all that we have in order to gain all that we could ever need from one who is all our hearts ever truly wanted.
It begins with the simple things—the rudiments of our spiritual journey. We learn through prayer, journaling, studying the Bible, and reading the testimonies of saints gone before us. We read how God was faithful to them and dream about the possibilities of God’s faithfulness in our own lives. We ponder the experiences we must encounter to condition us for the same levels of surrender. We, too, desire to trust. But God will not give us trust in an instant. He teaches us to trust over time.
God will not give us trust in an instant. He teaches us to trust over time.
Trusting requires humility; it demands that we relinquish all authority. Surrender recognizes who God is and invites him to step into our lives. It is when we trust that all anxiety and fear are obliterated because, in trusting, we acknowledge who is ultimately in control (1 Peter 5:6-7). And we must practice this repetitiously. It must be a constant exercise in our lives. And though it’s an exercise we can learn, it will never become perfect or instinctive. We must continue to will ourselves to trust God at deeper levels as we progress in our spiritual journeys. We must develop our trust; we must condition it. This is how we grow in intimacy with God.
As Rich Mullins once penned, “surrender doesn’t come natural to us. We’d rather fight God for something we don’t really want than to take what he gives that we need” (lyrics slightly altered for context). Surrender is to trust; trust is to surrender. And both must be practiced in the Christian life.