Following Jesus is about Surrender

Often when I talk to people about following Jesus, the conversation comes around to the question of DOING. How often do I have to attend church? Do I have to read the Bible? Do I have to believe all that Adam and Eve stuff? Do I have to stop doing this? Do I have to start doing that? Can I still do this? Can I still do that? What about these friends?

The idea of following Jesus gets confusing when it is thought of in terms of DOING. When that is the trail of thought a person goes down, following Jesus becomes something it was never intended to be. Following Jesus was never meant to be an exercise in DOING. There are things that a follower of Jesus does. There are things that a follower of Jesus doesn’t do. DOING and NOT DOING is not the point though.

People start asking about DOING because it gets to the heart of the matter for each of us. The question of DOING is often really a question about ‘Who gets to be in control?’ The thought is ‘I will not allow anyone else to control ME. I will be large and in charge, thank you! Following ME is ME in control.’

Following Jesus is definitely about ‘who is in control.’ Following Jesus is about surrendering ‘control’ of my life to Him. Following Jesus is Him in control. It doesn’t work to follow Jesus and ME be in control. Won’t work! Can’t work!

The dilemma of ME in control is multifaceted. When ME is in control, I think that I’m becoming ME and being true to ME. This is not true. When ME is in control, ME bends towards selfish decisions and a self-centered life. ME in control ends in lots of dings, nicks and crashes. ME in control always has lots of repair work that has to be done. ‘Bondo’ and paint will only cover so much. Dings, nicks and crashes always come with a cost.

When a person surrenders control to Jesus, He begins to bend them away from ME and selfish self-centered living, to God and others centered living. There are still dings, nicks and crashes, but when surrender has occurred, repair is up to Him and not ME.

On top of that, when a person surrenders, they begin to become the ME that Jesus intended all along for them to become and they begin to do what Jesus all along intended for them to do.

Surrender leads towards the life ME was meant to live.