There is a powerful song by William McDowell titled; I
give myself away. It is a probably the
most recent song that expresses a surrender to God. This is not a new notion to
the Christian faith. We have always loved songs that speak about surrendering
to God, especially when we think of the great work he did on the cross. I will go as far as saying that surrender is a
minimum requirement if we are to experience God the way he promised in the bible. Follow me, was the words Jesus used to call
his disciples. They all left what they
were doing and submitted their lives to living for God. In fact, the common thing we say in attempt to
explain what we did when we accepted Christ is; “I gave my life to the
Lord”. Now the word “gave” means that we
have no control over it anymore. We do
not have rights anymore; we have given over our rights to God. The only way we can have rights is if we lend
it to God. I mean, If I lend you my car, I have all the right to tell you how
and how not to use it because I am going to use it again for my own reasons.
God did not ask for us to borrow Him our lives for a moment with a promise to
give it back, but He asked us to lay it down for His own use. So the next time you utter the words “I
surrender”, whether in song or prayer; make sure you mean it. Often we pray for
the Lord to take over our lives, but when he does we complain. Some of us still have not given it over to
the Lord because like the rich young man in Mark 10, He asked us to let go of
something that is valuable to us. I
believe that amongst many other reasons, we gave our lives over to God because
we realized that we could not be trusted with ourselves. Before you continue
reading this post, ask yourself the following words; did you give or lend your
life to God?
Because I know that your
mind is seeking to understand why you should give your life to God, we will go
through a few scriptures that give us the reasons why. 2 Corinthians 5:1, a
well quoted scripture by Christians. Often to emphasize the newness of life
that comes with being in Christ, I love it. If we just backtrack a few
scriptures from there and read verse 15; “... and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for
themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” The bible gives
us the reason for the newness of life that is spoken about in verse 17. You
will realise that verse 17 starts with the word “therefore”, meaning as a
consequence of the death of Jesus on the cross, we have a newness of life. This newness of life comes with an
understanding of what life is all about, that it is about living for the One
who died for us. The apostle Paul is not talking about something he does not
know. He speaks as one who has
experienced the extremes of what it is to live for Christ. Having being
flogged, thrown in jail more than he could remember, stoned and left for dead
... yet he could say “to live is Christ and to die is gain”. This man had totally surrendered his life to
Christ, not only for the good things that come with being God’s child, but also
the hardships that come with it. It was no longer him who lived, but Christ who
lived in Him. It was no longer about personal gain, but the Kingdom. Let’s look
at another notion which I know is not new to you. The bible says that by the
blood of Christ we were bought FOR God (Rev 5:9). This means that you do not
have ownership over your life anymore, but God. Ever heard in soccer about a
player being bought from one club from another? That means that he will no
longer play for the old club, he is now under new management. So it is with us, we were bought with the
blood of Christ, an unmatched price to live our lives for God (1 Cor 7:23). If
I was to rephrase it in modern terms; “stop living for evil when nobody is
looking, but instead live for God because he bought you with a high
price”.
Just before I conclude, let me share with you a part of my life that
is relevant to this topic. After matric, I decided that I wanted to be an
accountant and went to study Business Management (Financial Accounting) at an
FET college. I had hoped to apply to do a B.Com in Accounting after that and
maybe even go all the way to be a CA. After my diploma, I felt a strong call of
God to join the Foxfire ministry for a year before I study. I applied and was
accepted and joined the team in 2010. Now this was a year’s program and from
there, you to move on to whatever God calls you to. I was actually asked to stay on as a
Coordinator and give leadership to one of the teams. I thought that this would
be a great learning experience for me and I grabbed it with both hands. I stayed here for 2 more years,
learning. In those 2 years, Accounting
was no longer a satisfying idea. It
would give me a lot of money, then what? I decided that I would balance it by
studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics. In that way, I can do apologetics
for ministry and have economics as a career, fair isn’t it? This felt like a good idea for a while, but
it also died out. I asked God what it
was He wanted me to do, and when He told me; I wanted to bargain with Him. I asked Him to delay it, give it to someone
else, or just kill it within me. Well it didn’t happen. Tell you what did
happen though ... I realized that as much as I was singing songs of surrender
and praying “Lord I give you my heart”, it was all lip service. I did not mean
any of those words and it was tested when God asked me to let go of the very
things that I thought I had to hold on to for my success. All these years that I wanted to study, I was
praying for financial provision so that I can study. Guess what, no response at
all. When I finally listened to God, took Him at His word and applied for a
degree in Theology, I was credited with 4 modules for experience in youth
ministry and someone offered to pay for my tuition fees. My application with the other university is
still pending, from 2010. I am still struggling to get my application approved.
When I finally decided to do what HE wants me to do for HIM, the doors opened.
I realized that I had been living for me, planning with my own mind and trying
to find funding by myself, to fulfil my plans. But when I started living for
HIM, fulfilling HIS plans, with HIS guidance, HE sent someone to pay for my
fees when I hadn’t even asked. So yeah, I am leaving a position with a salary
(financial security) for volunteer and studies and I have no worries at
all. The God who has bought me, called
me to live for Him and predestined me knows what he is up to. And because I now
live for him, I now understand what Paul was saying in Romans 12. He says that
we should be living sacrifices, not to conform
to the world that lives for themselves, but to live for God, renew our minds
everyday and in that way we will be able discern his good and perfect will for
our lives. Now that I tell you, is sacrificial living!! (Read 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Thanx for reading and your kind responses it is encouraging to hear
that these lessons I learn are helpful for all of you that read and respond.
God Bless you with Stax of blessings!!!!
