Sanctified and Surrendered: Victory in Surrender

It seems backwards to say that victory is in surrender. Anyone with any knowledge of physical warfare knows that the side to surrender is the loser, not the winner. So how can I proclaim that there is, in fact, victory in surrender?

Imagine you are the commanding officer in an epic battle. Cannons are firing in both directions. Gun shots are ringing as gunpowder fills the air so thick that you can hardly breathe. Your soldiers are screaming, informing you that another man is down and ammo is quickly depleting. You are desperate! You want to fight on but you know that you are defeated. Your inevitable doom is lurking in the very near future. It seems you have only two options: surrender yourself and your whole infantry to death or surrender as a captive to the enemy.

Right as you are painfully contemplating which choice is the lesser evil, you hear a faint noise in the distance. Your heart suddenly starts pounding harder, only now it is pounding with hope. The noise grows louder and louder as it approaches. It is the sound of another force, a grand army with trumpets and drums playing a victory march. You stand amazed, in awe of this new army’s obvious strength when the Commander in Chief approaches you. Though entirely intimidating, this Commander has compassion in His eyes. He is fierce with a peaceful smile. You gaze at His battalion and notice that each soldier is smiling, as if they are anxious to get out and fight! The Commander in Chief makes you an offer:

“Your infantry is weak. You cannot hold off the enemy’s invasion any longer. If you will surrender yourself, your position as commanding officer to me, I will take you and your soldiers as my own. Led by me, my army will strengthen yours and we will defeat your enemy in this attack and every future attack. All you must do is surrender to me now.”

At that moment, what would you do? Surrender to death? Surrender to the enemy? Or surrender to this new, glorious Commander in Chief and His brave army who is freely offering you protection?

When it comes down to our lives, the only choice we have is surrender. Like the commanding officer in this scenario, we get to choose who/what we surrender to. Though surrender usually means defeat, when we surrender to our Commander in Chief, Jesus Christ, victory is ours.

In Luke 9:23 Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up His cross daily and follow Me.” What does this mean? Deny myself? Daily pick up my cross? Surrender. Jesus is telling us to surrender. I can acknowledge with my mouth and my mind that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died and rose again to be Savior of sinners. But if I am not surrendering myself and my sin to Him daily, then I am not allowing Him to be Lord of my life. My daily surrender gives Him His rightful place as Commander in Chief over my life. And that is when He lives victoriously in and through me.

This surrender I speak of is not just some grand concept that looks great on paper but is unrealistic for actual life. This surrender I speak of is my testimony – it has become the theme of my life. I have to surrender each day to my Savior because I know what it is like to live defeated and that life is just not sustainable.

What this surrender looks like practically in my life is waking up each morning at a decent hour. Instead of immediately reaching for my phone to check for text messages or to check my Facebook, instead of turning my mind to my wonderful boyfriend, and instead of stressing about all of the tasks I have to do that day – instead of putting my mind on those things that keep my focus on myself, I get on my knees and I turn my focus to Christ. I pray a simple prayer that goes something like this:

My dear Lord,

Thank you for being my God. Today I give myself to you, fully surrendered. May my every thought, word, and action reflect You. I trust You with my life and the things that must be accomplished. May I be about Your business. Give me understanding as I study Your Word and draw closer to You. Be glorified through this life You’ve given me. I am Yours.

Amen

Starting our day out focused on and surrendered to God strengthens us to continue to surrender each decision to Him throughout the day. When temptations come, when sin rears its ugly head will we cower in defeat and surrender to its evil power? No! Having already surrendered to Christ, we will rise up against it and have victory!

It’s safe to say that we are not commanding officers of armies fighting epic battles with cannons and gun powder. But we are commanding officers of our own lives; we have free will. We are fighting epic battles against sin – selfishness, worldliness, evil. Our only choices are to surrender; either to the enemy of our soul or to our Savior, Jesus Christ. It feels good to be in control of self. For a while we seem to have everything figured out. But that is what sin does. It comes on with subtlety, letting us think we are winning until it overtakes us. Christ comes in and takes over in the midst of our defeat. He is not after those who believe they are strong without Him. He takes the weak and makes them strong!

We need to be aware that we have an enemy – Satan. If we are not consciously surrendering to Christ each day, then we are surrendering to Satan by default. The result is sin which will slowly destroy us. John 10:10 says that Satan comes only to steal, kill, and destroy but Christ came to give us abundant life!

You see, Christ died and rose again for so much more than what we, as a modern Christian culture, have been taught. Yes, He was crucified to offer us eternal life with Him and save us from hell. But what about today? What about the temptations we face today? Are we supposed to be in a perpetual cycle of defeat, sin, and forgiveness – defeat, sin, forgiveness… Over and over again? Several years ago I came to a point of such weariness and disappointment because of this perpetual cycle of defeat in my life. I asked God if this was the best I could expect as His child? As I sought Him and learned to surrender my control to Him, He gently and lovingly made it clear to me that I was settling for less than what He was offering. I was not living in His peace, joy, and confidence. Instead, I was living in sadness, anxiety, and fear. I was not daily surrendering the throne of my life to Christ and thus, I was powerless against sin. God taught me that His grace is forgiveness but it is also His enabling power to keep me from giving in to sin in the first place!

I now know that Satan and sin have absolutely NO power over me! Since committing to daily surrendering the throne of my life to Christ, temptations that used to seem so powerful over me are now squashed in a second. Christ has the victory in my life!

1 Peter 2:9-11 says that in Christ, “you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were not a people but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts that wage war against your soul.”

This scripture proclaims victory – not just eternally but today! We are a people for God’s own possession to proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light! Are we still choosing darkness then, by refusing to get out of the throne of our lives? We are “urged to abstain from fleshly lusts” because God has provided us with victory over those lusts through Jesus Christ. We just have to choose to surrender our throne to Him. We are for Him - not for ourselves and our sin. We are here to bring glory to God by allowing Him to be victorious through us! We have been purchased by Christ’s blood. We have a trustworthy Lord. He is worthy of all that we are!

Like with the commanding officer, our only option is surrender. Surrender to the enemy of our soul and live defeated or surrender to our worthy Savior and live victoriously? Today the choice is yours.

I can assure you, there is victory in surrender to Jesus Christ.