Changed: CCV StudentsSample

DAILY SURRENDER

What are some of the things you do every single day? They’re probably so natural at this point, you don’t really even think about it. Eat food? Brush your teeth? (Hopefully!) Text your friends? I bet if you really sat down and tried to list it all out, you could come up with a whole page of things that you do every single day. Well, as a new Christ follower, I have one more thing you can add to that list. Every single day we surrender to Jesus. Now, you may be thinking that you already did that…that moment where you first put your faith in Him, you said “Jesus, I’m sorry for my sin and I’m going your way now,” when you got baptized…there was certainly a moment where you first surrendered to Jesus. 

But, here’s the thing about surrender – we have an unfortunate habit of un-surrendering. And I don’t mean we consciously turn our backs on Jesus or stop following Him, but we just sort of gradually start trying to take control back from Him. We want God to bless us, or to help us when we need Him…we’ll even read our Bibles and go to church pretty regularly. But, when it comes to stuff that’s really important to us – relationships, money, reputation – we like to try and remain in control of those things. And so we start to compartmentalize our lives – we let Jesus have some stuff, and we hang onto other stuff. But this is no way to live. 

Jesus wants ALL of us – He wants us to trust Him with every single aspect of our lives. He desires that we stand before Him with open hands, saying, “Lord, here is everything I own, every choice I make, every relationship I am in, every minute of my life…do with it whatever you want.” That can be a tough prayer to pray, but I can’t tell you the deep levels of peace and fulfillment that come with living in that mindset. And so our challenge becomes to re-establish that heart of surrender every single day. As you start your morning, eat your Lucky Charms, and try not to be late for school, take a moment to surrender your whole day to Jesus. Whatever He wants, however He leads, and whatever opportunities He puts in your path – commit to following Him to the best of your ability through all of it.

Today, read the following passages, and then pray a prayer of submission to God for the day ahead.