In most cases, surrender is thought of in terms of defeat. A losing army surrenders to the conquering demands of their foes. The defeated army ceases to resist their enemy and submits to their authority. The conquering army will then make certain demands of their defeated foe, which could include the confiscation of weapons, the giving up of lands, the payment of monies to cover the costs of reparations, etc.

We can think of surrender in another very important way: as an individual surrendering his/her life to God. There are a few key verses that will help us understand this concept.

For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

Romans 5:10, NKJV

For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.

Romans 8:6-7, NKJV

Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

James 4:4, NKJV

At one point in our lives we were all the enemies of God. We were carnally minded, worldly minded, having our minds set on things of the earth rather than the things of God. Paul states clearly that the carnal mind is enmity against God due to the fact that it is not subject to the law of God. Then, James asserts that to be a friend with the world – the worldly system of anti-Christ sentiment – is to make oneself an enemy of God.

For one to cease to be an enemy of God calls for a total surrender to God. This requires an agreement with God that we were His enemies, that we acknowledge that reconciliation with Him is only possible through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, and that we are willing to make a total surrender to Him. This means a relinquishment of all my personal rights, and a commitment to His will for my life.

The first component of this surrender is salvation. We become children of God through the sacrificial death of Jesus. He paid the penalty for our sin, suffering the wrath of God that we should suffer. We are no longer enemies of God, but rather we are now children of God. In the act of salvation God justifies the sinner, imputing the righteousness of Christ to the account of the repentant sinner. We are no longer viewed by God as His enemy, but as His children, having been adopted into His family.

This leads to the second component of surrender: sanctification. This is a lifelong journey through which the surrendered individual becomes more and more like Jesus as we discard the old and replace it with the new. We are, as Paul says, new creations. Old things have passed away and all things have become new. To be sanctified is to be set apart for the glory of God.

Then, the third component of surrender is service. As we experience the continual and consistent work of sanctification, we learn that we are gifted to serve God in different ways. Every individual believer in Jesus Christ has at least one spiritual gift which is to be discovered, developed, and used to serve God through the many different ministries in the church.

In order for all of this to take place – the initial surrender of salvation, the continual surrender of sanctification, and the surrender to service – we must cast off the old and replace it with the new. We are dead to our old self, and alive to our new self. Paul states this clearly in his letter to the Galatians.

I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.

Galatians 2:20, NKJV

Being crucified with Christ means that we are dead to our old self. We are now living by faith to the glory of God. It requires nothing less than total, absolute surrender. May it be so with each of us.

Blessings.