At a young age, we learn in history class that people surrender when they are lacking something. When surrender occurs in a time of war, one side may be lacking people, strength, weapons, etc. Regardless of what it is, they are usually lacking something that the other side is not. What they have just doesn’t compare to what the other side has. So they surrender.
The problem is, they are then known as the ones who lost. Surrendering and losing have become synonymous.
This didn’t go over too well when I first heard the word “surrender” used in terms of Christianity. I immediately thought of those people who had no choice but to surrender in times of war. I thought of how they were lacking something, of how what they had didn’t compare to what the other side had.
I started to wonder what that meant in terms of my faith. What were the two sides? What was I always going to be lacking? If I chose to surrender, would I be known as the one who lost?
Turns out, all the answers are the opposite of what I originally thought they were and it’s taken me a lot of years and a lot of hurt to start walking through it.
I’m one side. Jesus is the other.
On Jesus’ side, He’s creating roses.
On my side, I have a lot of those roses. But the roses that I have were never meant to be fully mine. They were never meant to be stolen from Him. Yet somewhere along the way I convinced myself that I could take better care of them than He can. So now I hold onto them with all my strength.
The roses are my family, my friends, my college, my job. But as we all know, every rose has its thorn.
When I feel the thorns of a rose pressing into my hand that is gripping it way too tightly, I want to let it go. I want to give back the roses that have thorns that are hurting me, but letting go of the painful thorn means letting go of the beautiful rose too. It means placing it back in His hands, where it belongs, and trusting that only He knows how to properly care for it.
I don't want to let go of my friends and my family and all the other good things in my life, but I was never meant to hold onto them so tightly to begin with. The truth is, as much as I sometimes like to think I can, I can't take care of them properly on my own.
You can allow a thorn to pierce your hand for a long time, trust me I would know, but eventually, you get to a point where you realize you have no choice but to surrender. Not because you are lacking something, but because you are lacking everything. You can’t properly care for all of your roses. You weren’t created to and beyond that, they weren’t created to be cared for solely by you.
When we grip thorns, Jesus isn’t on the other side fighting against us, hurting us. We’re hurting ourselves. And all He wants us to do is let go.
Surrender might be a loss in terms of war, but in terms of Jesus, surrender is the largest victory.
We get to stop hurting and we get to trust that the things in our lives that we hold onto so tightly are in the hands of someone much greater than ourselves.
There is joy in surrender. There is peace and trust in surrender. There is comfort and safety and love and beauty in surrender.
We aren’t called to only surrender the thorns, the bad things in our life. We are called to complete and total surrender.
We are called to surrender our time, our emotions, our comfort, our wants, our thoughts, everything about who we are, everything in our lives. We are called to lay it down at His feet.
And how beautiful is it that He even lets us? That the creator of the universe allows us the freedom to lay down all our burdens at His feet, to fully let go, and to fully come alive.
Surrender isn’t for the weak. Surrender isn’t for the faint of heart. Surrender isn’t for the losers.
Surrender is for those who know there is a way that loves more and hurts less.
