Commitment or surrender?
Recently I had a leadership meeting. Before I started I was wondering what I could share with them. I love to give my leaders something to think about. Just a little thought provoking idea that will make them live outside of the box.
I asked them to do something. I handed each one of them a clean sheet of paper. I requested they all write contract on the top of the paper. They all did it willingly. Then I requested them to sign and date the bottom. Out of the eight in the room only one person did it. The others immediately questioned my motives and why should they sign a blank piece of paper?
This opened the discussion for me to talk about commitment and surrender. You might ask: What are the difference?
Commitment: This is like paying your mortgage or your car payment. You as the buyer commit to paying a certain amount each month for the next 3o years or in the case of the car the next 48 months. You have the ability to make the decision and decide how long you are willing to commit to that payment.
Another example about commitment is when I invite you over for dinner and you reply: I am sorry but I already have a prior commitment on that night. Do you get what I am saying? Commitment is something you choose. You decide how well that goes with what you want for your life.
Surrender:When someone sticks a gun in your face you immediately put up your hands and you say: I surrender. I will do anything you ask, please don’t shoot me. Surrender is not something you planned. It happened and you choose to not fight and give up all your rights. You are now at the mercy of that person.
Why is this important? I think in our Christian society today we hear much about commitment but not about surrender. We use to sing a hymn when I was growing up: I surrender all, I surrender all, All to Jesus I surrender, I surrender all.
In Church today the buzz word is commitment. Will you commit to help with the Children’s Church? Will you commit to help with the Youth outreach? We have lost the meaning of surrender.
Why is surrender such a big thing? Neither the word commit or surrender are found in the Bible. We do see examples of both though.
Commitment:The first example of commitment is the Law. Here are some expectations that you need to commit too. You might think that the Law was not a commitment, but it was because it was left up to them to decide if they wanted it or not. The second example of commitment was the Covenant. There are also the story of David after he became King over Israel, he found Saul’s only son that was left, Mephibosheth and brought him to the palace, and committed to feed him and take care of him the rest of his life. He was lame because his nurse dropped him. That was a lifelong commitment. The problem with commitment was that it didn’t have the power to change their hearts.
Surrender: There are a few really great examples of surrender in the Bible. The first story I want to look at was Abraham. In Gen 22 God asks him to sacrifice his son. This was after that God promised him and Sarah a son because they were unable to have any children. So Isaac is born. Imagine how much Abraham must have loved Isaac and how he felt about him. Then God asks him for the impossible.
Abraham was committed to Isaac as a father. Now he had to show that he was not just committed to God and the blessing, he was surrendered. Will he obey God and surrender his instinct as a father to refuse to sacrifice his son. Even though he was committed as a father, he was surrendered as a servant to God.
In the story of Daniel we see a degree by the king that no one should pray to any other God but him. Daniel is submitted to the king in service. He is under the kings authority but he is surrendered to God. So in spite of the degree he still kneels and prays three times a day.
David in 1 Sam 24 proves this point as well. Saul is after him. He is trying to find him and kill him. David and his men are hiding in a cave when Saul and his men show up. Saul is sleeping and David has a chance to go and kill Saul. His men offer to do it for him. David refuses. Not only was he committed to serving the very king that wanted him dead, but he was surrendered to the anointing that was on Saul. HE cut a piece of the robe from Saul and feels convicted afterwards. He was surrendered to God and his time to make him king when the time was right.
Heb 11 are full of names of people. We refer to them as people that had great acts of faith. I want to suggest that these were all people that knew what it was to be surrendered.
Commitment: -We all start here. Commitment is known by its time requirements. We commit in marriage for as long as we both shall live. Commitment starts today and can last a lifetime.
Surrender: - Surrender is not a future thing. Surrender is a constant “NOW.” Paul puts it this way: I die daily. Every moment of every day I have a choice to surrender. As I am living this life of surrender I will understand how much of it is really working its way in me.
Commitment will chain you but surrender will set you free. Surrender does not mean bondage, slavery, abuse or control. Surrender means freedom from self-effort, self-righteousness and skepticism.
People struggle to surrender because they struggle to trust. You can trust God. HE does not want to control you, bind you or manipulate you. That is why he is giving us a free will so we can freely chose to surrender ourselves to Him.