Surrender! Really?

I have been laboring under a wrong assumption.  Many of our praise and worship songs speak of surrendering to God in some way or another.  One of Billy Graham's favorite hymns is "I Surrender All."  My false assumption is that this surrender was a one time event. Imagine how bad I have felt over the years.  If I truly surrendered such and such an area in my life I would no longer have to struggle there. Obviously I did not surrender it totally to God!  Guess what?! That is not biblical.  Read Romans 7 if you think I am wrong.

If surrender was a one time event, we would all be on Easy Street.  The fact is we are fallen and while we do have a born again spirit (that is those of us who profess Jesus Christ), our bodies are not.  Our flesh and sin nature wins battles.  And that is the crux or point of this point.  The war is won! But there are many battles to be fought.  If you are like me and enjoy history, you will know that the American Civil War is an excellent model.  After Lee surrendered (there is that word again) at Appomattox, VA the war was declared over; however, communications were not like they are today even though they had telegraph.  It was sometimes days and even weeks before the information reached battle fronts and battles were still waged even though the war was over.  It is like that within ourselves.  Jesus Christ won the war for us on the cross but fierce battles are being waged internally and externally.

So what is surrender about?  It is yielding all control.  Do we surrender only once? I wish.  If my one time surrender does not keep me from sinning does that mean I never really surrendered? I don't believe so. Jacob wrestled with God.  So do I.  I lose. Often, it is not pretty. Not God's fault.  Mine. So I have to surrender again.  But here is the cool super positive part.  When I surrender to God, He loves me so much that he takes care of me.  He heals my battle wounds.  He helps me see my own stupidity and he comforts me. EVERY SINGLE TIME!

Sorry to say that often I surrender to my flesh.  Another battle lost.  Is the war lost?  By no means! (OK that was a cheap Romans plug.) When an absolute God wins, He wins absolutely!  The truth is that even though the war has been won, there are still many battles to be waged.  There will be surrendering.  There will be wins and losses.

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