Surrender to Jesus

There are a lot of ways to explain what it takes to be right with God. Some of them are very simple and some are complicated. There are folks who say we have to do something and others who say there is nothing we can do. They all have to do with faith in one way or another because the Bible is clear that we must put our faith in Jesus in order to be reconciled to Him. However, I think it really boils down to one thing. That one thing is surrender.

For us to come into a right relationship with Jesus, we must surrender being Lord of our own lives. Then, we must surrender to Jesus as Lord. In the act of surrender is an admission that our way is wrong, and His way is right. Therefore, we are turning from our way to His way. When we do that we are placing faith in Him and in His way. We are placing ourselves under Him as our Lord forever. It is a glad surrender.

This is the surrender that brings freedom. It is a joyful surrender that brings peace. Then, by growing in our new relationship we learn to surrender every specific aspect of our lives to Him. That is sanctification in it's simplest form. We are free to be like Jesus, because we have surrendered our will to Him fully. There is no defeat in this surrender, only eternal victory.

Tomorrow, I intend to read Philippians 1-3.