Surrendered

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who needs to lay down his arms… This process of surrender is what Christians call ‘repentance’… It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will…  It means killing a part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death.” – C.S. Lewis

Indeed this is the goodbye part of your story, in the goodbye-to-hello life.

As C.S. Lewis reflects on this process of surrender in the quote above, we can all relate to it as feeling a little like a kind of death.

The Apostle Paul even confessed in his letter to the church in first-century Corinth that he must “die daily.” In the context of that culture, he quite literally faced threats of death because of his ministry and relationship with Jesus. But this commitment is also understood to us today as meaning the call to surrender daily of our own selfish desires as we follow Jesus.

“I affirm, brothers and sisters… that I die daily.” – Apostle Paul writing to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 15:31 NASB)

Back to the C.S. Lewis quote above, you might notice that two other changes take place in surrender. For one, it requires humility. Once you begin to internalize your true identity in Christ, you’re dying a little at a time to your past identity – this is a humbling process.

Secondly, surrender is about turning from so many things that kept you at a distance from Jesus, and turning towards Him. This, friend, is repentance. It’s a daily process toward maturity in your walk with Him.

Radical surrender

If you’ve already come to belief in Jesus as your savior, you probably acknowledge the fact that you once lived for yourself in some way, shape or form. You may’ve been living a “good” life before you met Jesus, but it was always about yourself. Or it may be that you surrendered to your own impulses, whether good or bad. You may have felt a sense of freedom because you lived for your comforts, your preferences, your pleasures. Some would call this “living your own truth.” In your own thinking, you were free.

Then something changed on that day – at that moment – you received and believed in Jesus Christ. You may not even be aware of what changed. Although you didn’t instantly change your lifestyle at that moment (this happens over time), the new nature in your regenerate spirit became alive with the breath of God, with a new capacity to reflect His glory! The Spirit of Christ (the Spirit of Truth) began to inform your spirit.

So today, as you act on this Truth that your heart and mind receive, you’re dying a little more. You may want to refer back to the previous section and the article entitled Drawn to the Dance as a refresher on ways to respond, or act on, what the Spirit is teaching you.

Now this new, radical surrender is actually freeing you from captivity. What does it mean to be radical? Here’s Oxford’s definition to help you understand:

Radical: …relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something; far-reaching or thorough. – Oxford

That “fundamental nature” that’s changing is yours! Believers who’ve chosen to answer the call of surrender to follow Christ will undergo a “far-reaching, thorough” transformation from living in the old nature to walking in the new nature. That’s where we are today, at this very moment. But that old self doesn’t give up easily. The process of growth and maturity in your newness of life begins to materialize as you continuously humble yourself in repentance. This is radical surrender.

Radical freedom

As with so much of Christ’s teaching, paradox abounds. The word paradox refers to seemingly opposing concepts that together present a divine truth (e.g. death = life). Jesus often turns our logical understanding on its head! Although we usually think of surrender as resulting in captivity, when following Jesus we find another scriptural paradox, teaching that surrender = true freedom.

We hear this spoken directly by Jesus as recorded in the gospel letter written by John (John 8:31):

“…You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” – John 8:31 (The New Living Translation)

In this radical freedom as a Christ follower, you’ll begin to realize that God will handle what you always thought were irreversible struggles of your old nature that have held you captive perhaps for years. These difficult things are almost always rooted in a false identity, destructive thought patterns, a faulty mindset, and self-centered intentions and motivations. You may believe in your heart of hearts that your particular struggle is impossible to overcome because it’s been part of your life for as long as you can remember. You may feel like you’re the only person in the world with this bondage.

Conquering this all-consuming bondage is God’s work in you. As you surrender daily by responding to the Spirit of Christ, replacing your natural responses with spiritual ones, what you thought was impossible will begin to lose its hold on you! This is what is means to be truly free! Radical surrender becomes your freedom. Radical freedom.

The religious people of the early first century, as well as many of the pagans, rejected the idea of surrendering to anyone, let alone Jesus. In their minds, who would ever surrender their “freedom” to this imposter that was challenging the religious leaders’ authority and pestering everyone else? In Paul’s letter to the believers in ancient Rome, the apostle exposed the world’s prevalent, self-indulging idea of freedom:

“As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter. But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.” – Romans 6:20-21 The Message Bible

Maybe you once lived this way? Most if not all of us, before we knew Jesus, relished our own “freedom” and we surrendered only to ourselves – whatever our hearts desired. But when Jesus entered the scene he introduced a radical kind of freedom through a radical kind of surrender! It was foreign to the world at the time – even the religious crowd.

Let’s sum this all up in a few bullet points that expose the surrender to false freedom, and then this world-shattering, life-changing lifestyle of surrender to true freedom.

• The world’s self-indulgent “freedom” was actually self-defeating! Paul made this clear in the same Roman letter:
  “You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. “ – Romans 6
• Even those that adhered to strict religious teachings of the first century in Rome were living in bondage disguised as freedom. In Paul’s missionary letter to the church in Galatia, he rails against the religious teaching:
  “When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace… neither our most conscientious religion nor disregard of religion amounts to anything.” – Galatians 5:4-6
• Surrendering to selfish pleasures, excessive comforts, and even moral, religious thinking in ancient times locked people in prisons of their own making. Still does to this day.
• Jesus came to bring radical freedom to a dying, deceived world, for those who would come to believe in Him and radically surrender:
  “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” – Galatians 5:1
• Once and for all, Jesus made it crystal clear to those who would believe. His words are found in the gospel of John, chapter 8:
  “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you…” – John 8:31-35

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36