About Surrender

In 1993 I was four years old. My family had just moved to the Philadelphia-area and I was starting to be aware of life and world around me. One Sunday night I did something pretty crazy for a four year old.

My pastor preached a sermon in church that night and I had a lot of questions about it. What was baptism? (More or less… why do people going swimming in church?) What is communion? (Why can't I eat in church to?) What is salvation? (Can I get a pass to go swimming and eat crackers in church too?)

That drive home I probably bugged my parents with a hundred questions about the peculiar activities of adults during church, but one thing they said gripped my heart. I was a sinner. I had done things that not only offended my parents; those things offended the righteous heart of my perfect God. But He loved me so much that He sent His precious Son from Heaven to earth to forgive me of my sins. He died on a painful cross for me. He was so powerful that He rose from the dead and made it possible for me to go to heaven with Him.

When I realized this I did something crazy for any four year old, I surrendered. I surrendered my wants and my desires and my needs to my God. I gave Him complete control over my life. I decided that what He had done was too important to ignore. I needed Him to forgive my sins. I needed Him and I needed His free and permanent gift of salvation.

Little did I know that this decision would shape my life. Little did I know that this moment of surrender, would turn into a daily act. I would have to surrender my will and my selfish needs to God everyday. Because of what He had done, He deserved to be in control of every word that I say, every deed that I do.

Now comes the hard part. Sometimes I want to take that control back. Sometimes I want to live for me. But now that I have surrendered to God, I serve Him. I have to live for Him. I have to tell others about the freedom and the peace that He brings. His security. His love. And instead of a single, one-time long-forgotten surrender, my life has been come an every day surrender.