I Surrender All
Letting Go
Surrender: What are you holding on to that you need to let go?
Judson Van DeVenter was a musician and teacher who lived at the end of the 19th century. In 1896, during a time where he was considering what God wanted him to do with his life, he wrote down these words…
All to Jesus I surrender,
All to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
In his presence daily live.
I surrender all,
I surrender all.
All to Thee my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.
Chances are you’ve heard these lyrics before. You may have even sung the words to this song. It’s been recorded by hundreds of popular artist, it’s been sung at the Grammy’s, and it can be heard in almost any church on any given Sunday.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDKwnbKRhMs[/embedyt]Whenever we hear this song or sing these words, we’re confronted with the question… What am I holding on to that I need to let go of in the presence of God?
What do I need to surrender?
Many of us who believe in Jesus and show up in church on Sunday do so in faith, but if we’re honest, we’re still holding on to something. We hold on to all kinds of things.
We hold on to our fears, our worries, our concerns. We hold on to appearances and what people think about us. We hold on to our pride. We hold on to what we think we deserve. We hold on to our opinions. We hold on to grudges. We hold on to our possessions.
The truth is, we’re holding something back. Some part of ourselves, some past hurt, or something that is in our hands that we are unwilling to let go. We sing, “I surrender all,” but we have a hard time letting go.
Holding on, clinging to… this defines our human experience.
Yet the way of Jesus is different. The way of Jesus truly is the way of surrender.
Jesus once told his disciples:
“If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.”
Matthew 16.24
When Jesus said that, he wasn’t asking them to do anything he wasn’t willing to do himself.
Consider what the Apostle Paul once said about Jesus:
Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
Philippians 2.6-8
In His Presence
The way of Jesus is the way of surrender. We live in a world that says, “Fight for what you want.” And, “Hold on to what’s yours.” But we follow a Savior who invites us to say, “I surrender all.”
Why is it so hard to let go? Perhaps it’s because we are not living daily in His presence.
All to Jesus I surrender,
All to him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust him,
In his presence daily live.
In the presence of God, perfect love casts out fear. In his presence, we don’t have to worry about anything and we can talk to God about everything. In his presence, we can lay our trophies down, lay our hurts down, and lay our regrets down.
When we’re living daily in his presence, walking with Jesus, we can lay down our opinions of others and others opinions of us. We can let go of all these things that weigh us down. And as we do what we’ll find is freedom and grace. What we’ll experience is love, unconditional love, as we enter relationship with the Divine Community, with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.
At the End of Surrender is…
And as we are enveloped in that love, everything that has been weighing us down is lifted all off our shoulders as we cast all our cares on the One who cares for us. What we experience is that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And all of a sudden, our hands rise in worship. Our hearts ascend in praise. Our voices lift in song. Everything that was holding us back before has been let go as we sing, I surrender all.
Because at the end of surrender isn’t a cross. The way of the cross is the way of surrender but it leads to resurrection and ascension. It leads us into the presence of God where we can daily live.
So what do you need to let go of so you can take hold of God?
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