To Surrender or to Submit

Yesterday I blogged about surrendering. I have been on a journey to be leave behind more and more of myself and to become more and more like Christ. Today I was reading in 1 John 3:6 says:

6No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.

As well, Sunday night I heard a sermon about extending love to those around us. After the message we got into small discussion groups. One of the questions was "What will it take to extend the love of Jesus to others?" In that moment I realized.... If I TRULY TRULY TRULY understood the Love of Christ, there would be nothing that could stop me from telling the whole world. If I truly understood the mystery of grace I would have no choice but to knock on doord in the middle of the night because not another second could pass without telling someone about the love of God.

There is a frustration in me when I see the repeating pattern of sin in my life. I want to call it "issues" or "stuff that I am working on" but really let's call it what it is.....SIN.

After yesterday's post there were some very interesting comments. One in particluar about the difference between surrender and submission. For all my Christian life I have heard it preached and sung that we need to "Surrender" our lives fully to God. Gary wrote about a sermon he once heard:

"Surrender" is about being forced to stop fighting because you are facing an unbeatable foe whose goal is to destroy you. The only other option is to keep fighting and face certain defeat. There is no chance of victory and to surrender is humiliating. It is done for the sole purpose of surviving. Our foe (the devil) has a simple goal. It's to keep us in a position of weakness once we have surrendered. All options to fight later are eliminated because the foe gives us no chance to gather our strength. The enemy wants us fearful and weak. We are no threat to him that way.

"Submission" from a biblical perspective is entirely different. It doesn't require us to be defeated. Rather, it asks us to willingly choose not to fight. We recognize our abilities and strengths but choose not to use them for our purposes. Biblical submission does not eliminate our strength, it builds it and focusses it on a greater goal.

I love the story of David in the cave when Saul was seeking him to destroy him. In the darkness, Saul had no idea that he was within inches of one who could have taken his life.David had the power, the opportunity and frankly, the motive. He didn't surrender to Saul, he submitted to God. This action took great courage and integrity. He left the scene with greater strength and character.

I can't fully accept that God wants us "beaten down" to Him. Yes, we allow our lives to get so miserable that it happens when we finally come to Him but it's really about our own choices catching up to us. He wants to build us up and help us recognize our strength and courage

I LOVE this perspective. I pulled up Bible gateway and typed in "surrender". I was surprised to find that apart from specific discussions about war, there were very few scriptures that actually implore, or command or suggest that "Surrender" to God is what is necessary. Here are the ones I found- it could be argued that these don't really even follow the context that we are discussing here.

1 Corinthians 13:3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing (NIV)

The Amplified Bible:

Acts 11:21And the presence of the Lord was with them with power, so that a great number [learned] to believe (to adhere to and trust in and rely on the Lord) and turned and surrendered themselves to Him.

Romans 1:16For I am not ashamed of the Gospel (good news) of Christ, for it is God's power working unto salvation [for deliverance from eternal death] to everyone who believes with a personal trust and a confident surrender and firm reliance, to the Jew first and also to the Greek

Romans 6:16Do you not know that if you continually surrender yourselves to anyone to do his will, you are the slaves of him whom you obey, whether that be to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience which leads to righteousness (right doing and right standing with God)?

1 Corinthians 13:3Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing] food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.

I want to hear your thoughts... this is something that I am processing in real time as I write.