Surrender and Renew

August 16, 2018

Don't let sin control your body any longer; don't give in to its sinful desires . . . but give yourself completely to God—every part of you . . . to be used for his good purposes.  Romans 6:12-13

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2 NIV

Your action plan for freedom requires giving up. Sounds paradoxical, right? How can giving in; surrendering, lead to freedom? Control is an innate desire we all have, and surrender sounds like weakness. We all strive to have the tightest grip we can on every aspect of our lives, hoping that control means having our lives together or the exact way that we want them to play out. We work countless hours trying to reach perfection, trying to climb the corporate and social ladder, trying to have amazing friendships and a great relationship, trying to achieve all the goals that the world says are important.

We try to satisfy our inner dragon that wants more and more and more control. Our desire for control is then reflected in the actions we take in trying to get it. It could look something like controlling or disordered eating, using alcohol, drugs, or food as a coping mechanism, sleeping with person after person, becoming a workaholic, even being obsessed with a good thing like family. Suddenly we find ourselves where what we think we are controlling is actually controlling us. It becomes a vicious cycle, trying to gain control and ultimately feeling more out of control, and it’s not long before the dragon is destroying us.

It’s hard to comprehend, but there is actually freedom in surrender. Surrender can be the strongest thing we do as we let go of control and give it to our Creator, the only One who can truly handle control of our lives. When we surrender, we are saying “God, I know the world says that I am in charge of my life, and I can control how it goes. But I cannot bear the weight of that, so I give my desire for control to You.”

Surrendering is not an easy task by any means, but we can have peace knowing that our lives are in the hands of the One who created the universe. He will use us for His good purpose. This is real freedom. As we work with Him daily, He will renew and transform our minds, so our minds, hearts, and bodies will all be working together in health and freedom.

• Pray: “God, show me how to truly let go and see You use my life fully for Your good purpose.”