Surrender...

So lately I've been thinking--thinking of more than just one thing in one instance (like most humans have the capacity to do.) Thoughts spurring such things like confusion, frustration towards my inability to make (in my own mind) what seems like a simple decision, question, slight doubt of a certain subject, slothfulness in doing what I know is right, the list could go on. One thing that I have been pondering over (a far better word) is surrender. As good 'preached to people' we hear about this word often and how important it is in our walking with Christ, but what does it mean? What does it mean to surrender ourselves? The American Heritage Dictionary defines surrender in two interesting ways. First it says it means to relinquish possession or control of to another because of demand or compulsion. Second, to give up or give back (something that has been granted). I like the second one--To give back. To fully surrender to God means to give Him what He already owns. We don't own our lives. If we owned it wouldn't we have a say in our own death. Death for the most part cannot be controlled. Aside from suicide we do not know when our last breath will be.

In this Humanistic world we are told to seek truth within ourselves...we this, we that--it's all about us. We are told that we are in control and that we are the tip top of the line beings. If we are so great wouldn't we be able to stare death in the face and shun it as if it were an elementary school child challenging the authority of the teacher? No, because we don't know (and often don't care to know) when our last gasp of breath will be and when death will take hold of all that we are. We mourn over our souless companions and relatives who are victims of the relentless death. We assume in the selfishness of our minds, that there is a sad ending to evey life, but that isn't so.

Naturally we are inclined to think solely on the now and what encounters us at the present, but isn't there a bigger picture? A picture that gives us hope? Our ever expectant minds tell us that there's always more than what we see. As little children we swear that the unseen is indeed just as real as you and I. We play with our imaginary friends and pretend things into life. Our minds are naturally made to seek and find, to see beyond the seen, to know that there is more. It cannot be found in ourselves, because we fail, we are not perfect, and we are subject to so many uncontrolable events. In acceptance of what is so clearly true we can now understand that this God in whom people have spoken about for centuries (in the God on whom our very country was founded upon), we now catch a glimpse of what is truly important.

I cannot find rest and satisfaction in myself. I cannot be at ease about my uncontrolable future. God is the controler of death. God cannot and will not be overrun by death. We are God's creation and we have no right to frolic away our lives into oblivion. Surrender what is already His. In every aspect of life, give back. Give back your money, your pride, your self-image, your social status, and see the big picture. Our lives are owned (but not controled) by God so He deserves every angle of your life.

I must not hold anything back from Him. It scares me out of my mind to think that, if I surrender, I won't have any control over my own life. If I truly surrender to God, and give Him every part of my life, then and only then will I experience true life. True life will not always be beautifully confortable, but it is the only thing that matters.

Give God what is already His--Surrender. Live out your life a life of surrender.