I haven’t really been slacking off, and no, the kids didn’t lock me in the closet for a week. We spent most of last week cleaning out grandma & grandpa’s house and having an estate sale.
I was listening to a newer version of the great hymn, “I Surrender All” the other day. In really listening to those words, I had to ask myself honestly if I could truly say that and mean it – “All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give.” Is there anything in my life that I wouldn’t gladly & joyfully give up in a moment without hesitation? My golf clubs, my car (ok, not so big a deal in my case, God has really worked on me in this area :),my job, my salary/income/retirement account, my house, my wife or kids (not that I would get rid of them, but could I surrender them should God in His sovereignty decide it is time for them to be taken from this earth?)
In my men’s discipleship group that meets Thursday mornings, the subject of surrendering to God and the “cost” of being a disciple – following Jesus Christ, has come up a several times in the last couple months, as we have been studying and sharing what God is doing in our lives. Jesus talked about surrendering everything to follow him in Luke 14 and concluded in verse 33 by saying “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions”.
God has certainly been helping us work through turning over control in every area of our lives to Him and also has really changed our priorities as we have gone down the path to becoming debt free (hopefully another blog for another day). Julie had a great post on her blog you should read “Could you give it all up?”
Is there anything in your life that would be hard to let go of and surrender to God?
I thought it worth looking up the words to the song as often seeing/reading them helps me to internalize them more than just singing them. I found it interesting that I have not heard any recent versions that include the last verse of the song – what a pity, as I think that it is such a truth that we find more of (though will not ever find fully here on earth) the joyful, fulfilled, abundant life Christ intended for us as we surrender more/everything to Him.
- All to Jesus I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.- Refrain:
I surrender all,
I surrender all;
All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
- Refrain:
- All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now. - All to Jesus I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine. - All to Jesus I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me. - All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!
Awesome bloggable thoughts! I’ve thought more along these lines lately. It’s easy to say it all belongs to Him but when we’re faced with actually giving it up…are we hesitant? Our financial situation the past several months has caused plenty of contemplation over what we could give up if we get to that point. We know God is in control and we’re amazaed how he continually provides for our needs and even our desires.
By: Susie on July 10, 2008
at 12:29 pm
Our home team has been going through the “route 66″ study this past year. However, this week, we are taking a detour and our HT Leader asked us all to bring the lyrics of a song that has touched us or ministered to us. It was just really neat to see your blog entry doing just that today! Anyway, just thought that was cool. Thank you for the insight. Sometimes I get cought up in the music and forgot to really think about what I am actually singing. That is an awesome song and really convicting as I has some things going on in my life right now that I now I am not surrendering. Thanks Mark.
By: Tina on July 10, 2008
at 3:08 pm
This blog entry really touched me. After all these years, only now to I truly understnad that it has been Jesus who has sustained me and that it is only Jesus that stands between me and disaster. Therefore, I totally surrender EVERYTHING in my life– from how I am going to pay my rent and fill my car with gas to my retirement plans to my health to my emotional well-being. It ALL belongs to Jesus and HE controls all of this.
By: Lori on July 16, 2008
at 4:25 am
Surrender, I have been a “believer” all my life, I have been seeking Christ hardcore the past 10 years, I just recently surrendered and now understand what that means, what liberation I have now, I realized I had to give up all I placed my trust in, my own idenity had fallen into clothing brands, auto brands, where I lived, what work I did, and most of all how good looking the women I dated were, and when none of that worked, and countless failed relationships left me broken hearted, which what would happen was I would find a great woman then would still feel alone in my heart and think “well, she must not be the right one” I would push her away and go looking for the relationship that would fill that void, when after I chased everything in the world and finally came to the end of myself from a failed business venture, I was forced to rely on God totally, and then I felt God say let it all go, I started to realize that I had false gods in my life, and I started to give away all my stuff, and sell what I did not need, then gave all my life to Christ not leaving nothing to my control, from that point I for once at 39 years old understand what true surrender means and true salvation feels like, I had been blessed with great success, but would have to leave the companies I built because they would not answer my question of what is missing, I thought I was a christian, and I professed Christ as Lord but I did not and had not ever given up all for Christ, now I know, the love I was searching for all my life I found and I did not have to be successful or have lots of things or money to attract this love, it was free all along. The world loves a winner but hates a looser it’s said, what I have found it that God Loves us pass or fail, He believes in us so much that He just says retake the test. I found that I can believe in myself for once because if God believed in me so much to never let me totally fall apart and substained me all these years while my heart was far from Him, how then can I not believe in myself if God believes in me that much, in my old life, I was greatly successful outwardly but inside was extremely insecure and lived in fear, I was a control freak and selfish, I have given up all the things I placed my worth in and trust to find that I never needed them anyway, and now currently broke, jobless, with a financial colapse but in the mist of this, I am not insecure, have no fear, and have true worth for once. Christ’s love and mercy is real, I just wish others could trully stop judging people so much so that the non-believers could start to believe, I now have mercy for those who are lost and see past the surface of their actions. Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ. I finally understand that I was trying to find love in the world because I felt unworthy of Gods Love due to my sins, now I know that what I could not do in redeeming my sins, Christ did for me and God never asked me to do anything but just accept that fact that He saves us not us trying by our strength to prove ourselves and save ourselves.
Jason
By: Jason on November 28, 2008
at 4:41 pm
I really needed to have read this blog and all of your responses. Lately, I’ve been having an inner struggle with myself. I want control of my life, but I know that I won’t be able to do it any good. I want to be able to provide for myself, but I know that I can’t. It’s very hard for me to surrender, but once I do, I know I will feel at peace with myself. The lord has brought me this far and I know I can trust him with everything because he didn’t bring me this far for nothing.
By: Darien on May 18, 2009
at 9:32 pm
[...] Mark at A Call to Compassion: “I was listening to a newer version of the great hymn, ‘I Surrender All’ the other day. In really listening to those words, I had to ask myself honestly if I could truly say that and mean it – ‘All to Jesus I surrender, all to him I freely give.’ Is there anything in my life that I wouldn’t gladly & joyfully give up in a moment without hesitation?” [...]
By: Hymn #85: I Surrender All at Semicolon on June 16, 2009
at 9:10 pm