Surrender
By Tim Van Valin
Surrender comes immediately following the point at which you are
completely aware of your lack of alternatives. Surrender never comes
during any point in which you think you still have them. Alternatives
are the things that keep us from total surrender. Whether they’re
good options is another matter entirely. It sounds noble, but
fighting “to the death” always leads to just that, death, when all the
while life was very much an option. It’s just a different life than
you’d tried to orchestrate for yourself.
God has a keen interest in bringing you to a place of surrender. It’s
the only place where you’ll let Him have you completely. There are
two ways you get to this point. First, you go willingly. “Grant me a
willing spirit…” (Psalm 51:12) Second, you must be taken there. This
typically happens in one of two ways. Either God goes about
obliterating your alternatives Himself or, more often than not, He
simply gives you more rein and you eventually obliterate them
yourself. The issue for Him is not the timing, it’s the destination.
Love is patient, and God is love. (1 Cor 13:4, 1 John 4:8) He will
wait.
You have never and will never see a fighting force of any kind
surrender while they still believe they can win. Therein lies the
issue. Do you still think you can win on your own? Do you still
nurture hope even though you’re playing the field?
Surrender is not the same thing as giving up. When you surrender, the
only thing you’re giving up is needlessly fighting for a way of life
that has never and will never work.
“First of all, we had to quit playing God. It didn’t work. Next, we
decided that hereafter in this drama of life God was going to be our
Director. He is the Principal; we are His agents. He is the Father,
and we are His children. Most good ideas are simple, and this concept
was the keystone of the new and triumphant arch through which we
passed to freedom.” (Alcoholics Anonymous pg. 62)
It may all begin with you simply being willing to surrender as opposed
to up and surrendering wholeheartedly. Telling God you’re willing to
surrender is a starting point.
The rest of your life can begin right there.
Mine did.
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