Starting Line: Surrender
by Gary Johnson
For all of 2025, we are on a quest to become increasingly like Jesus. In keeping with 1 John 2:6, “Whoever claims to live in Him must live as Jesus lived.” To begin this year-long journey, our proverbial “starting line” must be our surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Surrender Defined
To begin with, we need to clearly define what “surrender” is not. Surrender is not admitting defeat. When we were growing up as a kid, we may have fought or wrestled with someone and demanded that our young nemesis “Cry ‘uncle’!” That American idiom has been around for years, and it has always meant that someone gave up and admitted defeat. Similarly, in war, when a white flag was flown it communicated those warriors admitted defeat.
Spiritually, God is not conquering us. Our Creator and Sustainer is inviting us into a relationship with Him as our loving and forgiving Father. While surrender is not admitting defeat, it is admitting that God alone is sovereign over all His creation, of which we are a part. Surrender is admitting that apart from Jesus, we can do nothing (John 15:5) and only through Jesus can we be saved (John 14:6).
Surrender Described
Since our image of surrender typically looks like defeat, where do we find the right description of surrender? Simply by looking at the life and person of Jesus.
When Jesus was immersed (Mt 3:13-17), God spoke of Him and not to Him. God said of His Son, “With Him I am well pleased.” Jesus was just beginning His public ministry. He had not yet died on the cross. Why was God pleased with His Son? The answer is found in Scripture.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Jesus Christ: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing. Taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness and being found in appearance as a man, Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross!
Philippians 2.5-8
Though equal to God, Jesus chose to submit to the sovereignty of God. Even before God created the foundation of the earth, Jesus was chosen as the Lamb of God, who would take away our sins (1 Peter 1:20). Surrender was a deliberate decision by Jesus and demanded His life-long obedience to God while living as the Son of Man humanly on this earth.
Surrender Desired
If we are to live like Jesus, it begins with our surrender to God. This requires more than simply singing the ever-familiar hymn, “I Surrender All” with one another. A few years ago, movies in 3D were all the rage. When we put on those special glasses to view the film, the movie was in a deeper dimension before our very eyes. Similarly, when we practice these 3Ds in surrendering to God, our lives resemble Jesus all the more deeply.
D for Decision
Each of us must make a decision to surrender to God. Surrender is not passive; it is an active decision – a 24/7/365 mindset. As Paul said in Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, I urge you to present your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Then you be able to test and approve what God’s will is, His good, pleasing and perfect will.” As “living sacrifices,” we are surrendered to God on a daily basis and that demands a shift in the way American Christians think.
D for Deny
Just as Jesus denied Himself, we must do the same. Though He was equal to God, Jesus denied Himself of that positional authority when He became one of us. Jesus even defined what a Christian (i.e., follower of Christ) is in Luke 9:23, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow after Me.” I cannot speak for you, but self-denial is difficult for me. From childhood, we grow up in a culture of “mine, mine, mine.” We then have a myopic view of our world of “me, myself and I.” Yet, to desire a surrendered life requires that we learn the discipline of daily denial.
D for Depend
We can only make this decision and actually deny ourselves when we depend on the person and power of the Holy Spirit! The normative way a person receives the indwelling Spirit of God is by surrendering his or her life to Jesus Christ when immersed. The Word commands, “Repent, then, and be immersed (i.e., baptized), every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, so that your sins may be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 2:38). Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20), and we have His power in us by which to live like Jesus each and every day (1 John 4:4).
So then, what do you say? “Uncle?” “I give up?” As you begin 2025, are you wanting to admit defeat? Hopefully not! Instead, let’s join together and admit that we want to begin a journey to increasingly live like Jesus, and that requires we leave the “starting line” of surrender.
