Glad Surrender

"Discipline is the wholehearted yes to the call of God. When I know myself called, summoned, addressed, taken possession of, known, acted upon, I have heard the Master. I put myself gladly, fully, and forever at His disposal, and to whatever He says my answer is yes."

-Elisabeth Elliot, Discipline, the Glad Surrender

I have been thinking a lot about surrender lately. We sing about it when we worship Him. We talk about the surrender of our whole hearts unto Him. However, the Bible does not "directly" address the matter of what it means to surrender totally and completely to Christ. So what does it really mean to "surrender all?"

Mark 8:34-35 says this:

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."

Jesus lists three conditions here for those who wish to come after Him:

1. Deny yourself.

2. Take up your cross.

3. Follow Him.

Total and complete surrender. I abandon my own will for Christ's. Not without sacrifice, but with much reward.

Jesus promises in Mark 10:29-30:

"I tell you the truth," Jesus replied, "no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life."

Eternal life. That is the reward of total surrender.

This morning in church we sang the song "Worshiping You" by Deluge. The words are simple:

Take this offering that I bring
humbly I fall on my knees
to proclaim your everything.
My life's nothing without you
take my hand and lead me through
you are my sustaining love.

I live to worship you (2x)

CHORUS:
Here I am worshiping you, with all I am worshiping you.
Bowing down in spirit and truth with lifted hands worshiping you.

Why do we lift our hands to the Lord when we're worshiping Him? It's an attitude of surrender. For me, it means letting go of whatever He asks. I gladly surrender to Him my life, because my life is nothing without Him.

What does total surrender mean to you?