What does it look like to truly surrender ownership of our lives to Jesus?
Surrendering is a very dynamic action, and not just a one-time thing! It’s evidenced when we intentionally set aside our own plans, in exchange for being obedient, moment-by-moment to following the plans God has for us.
Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”
It’s a matter of the choices we make on an ongoing basis to rely on and completely trust in the finished work on the cross, and Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. We must willingly ‘die’ daily to our worldly and fleshly desires, in order to allow the Holy Spirit to lead us.
Acts 2:21 says, “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.” This literally makes all the difference in the world, as we become sealed by the God’s Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13-14) at the moment of our salvation, which gives us unique access to the very Creator of the Universe to help lead us and guide us through the rest of our lives.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies. Yes, we live under constant danger of death because we serve Jesus, so that the life of Jesus will be evident in our dying bodies. So we live in the face of death, but this has resulted in eternal life for you. But we continue to preach because we have the same kind of faith the psalmist had when he said, “I believed in God, so I spoke.” We know that God, who raised the Lord Jesus, will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself together with you. All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God will receive more and more glory. That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
I recognize this is a message that runs counter-cultural to just about everything the world throws at us. However, if our baseline for identifying truth is found in Jesus, and is laid out clearly in His word, then we’ve got an eternity to look forward to amidst all of the temporary storms in our lifetime. No matter how severe your current struggles may be, if you’ve surrendered ownership of your life to Jesus … be encouraged, because He’s guaranteed you’ll never be alone ever again!!