Do You Surrender All?

All to Jesus, I surrender

All to Him, I freely give

I will ever love and trust Him

In His presence daily live

All to Jesus, I surrender

Humbly at His feet, I bow

Worldly pleasures all forsaken

Take me, Jesus, take me now

I surrender all

I surrender all

All to Thee, my blessed Saviour

I surrender all

I Surrender All

Song by Don Moen

How many times have you sung this on a Sunday morning? Dozens probably. Maybe hundreds if you've lived long enough and you have a music director that likes to cycle between three closing songs 🤣. Many of us can sing this song while thinking about our to-do list for the week and not even realizing what we're saying. How often do you slow down and really think about these lyrics? Do you mean what you are singing, or are you just offering lip service to the Lord?

I've given this a lot of thought lately. What does it mean to surrender all? As always, I start with Webster's 1828:

SURREN'DER, verb transitive [Latin sursum, and rendre, to render.]

1. To yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession upon compulsion or demand; as, to surrender one's person to an enemy, or to commissioners of bankrupt; to surrender a fort or a ship. [To surrender up is not elegant.]

2. To yield; to give up; to resign in favor of another; as, to surrender a right or privilege; to surrender a place or an office.

3. To give up; to resign; as, to surrender the breath.

4. In law, to yield an estate, as a tenant, into the hands of the lord for such purposes as are expressed in the act.

5. To yield to any influence, passion or power; as, to surrender one's self to grief, to despair, to indolence or to sleep.

So, I don't think the first two apply. The first one because there is no compulsion or demand, and the second because we're not talking about yielding in favor of another. The third one would imply we were in some sort of battle with God, which maybe we are but that's not what I'm thinking we're referring to here? Four and five seem to resonate more. Most especially, four makes sense to me. In this act, you are acknowledging that something belongs to God, that it is truly His. We may be using it, living in it, etc. but truly, it belongs to Him. While four is a profoundly logical action, five seems more emotional - visceral even. This is often what I feel when I am singing this song, and NOT thinking about my to-do list. This is a giving over of myself, and a laying down of my desires. 

But take a moment to sit uncomfortably with the question. Do you truly surrender all? Do you let go of the idea of getting what you want and choose to be satisfied with what God has for you instead? What if what God has for you is pain? I thought about that today as I saw in a family group chat everyone praying for my grandmother to be relieved of her pain as she is in the hospital. The thought occurred to me, what if her pain is preparing her for her transition to heaven? What if that pain is a gift that helps us to let go of this life, this earth, and embrace the incredible beauty and perfection of what God has for us next? What if our pain is what helps our loved ones let us go, what finally allows them to see that we are better off with Jesus? What if pain is good? Are we willing to surrender to God's best for us if it involves pain? That's a tough one! But the truth is, if it is God's best for us, then there is a very good reason for it, and we really are better off for it.

Here's the Thing: The basis of surrender is trust. I can surrender anything in my life to Jesus because I trust Him completely. I trust Him with myself, with my husband, with my children. I trust Him with all my loved ones. I trust Him with my future. I trust Him with my past. I trust Him with my health. I trust Him with my finances. I trust Him with everything. I surrender all.