15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ro 6:15–19.

We are always in a state of surrender. To “not surrender” is not an option. 

Surrender, by its very definition means to yield control to someone or something else. This is always a voluntary act. Compulsion may be used, but the act must always be voluntary, if for no other reason than self-preservation. One can be beaten or imprisoned but if they refuse to yield, truth is, no one can make them.  The decision to submit is always voluntary – perhaps not done for wholesome reasons, but still always voluntary.  

Truth is, we are always presenting ourselves to something — i.e. we are always surrendering to something. We live in a culture that is conditioned and committed to surrendering to its desires and passions. We are not encouraged to rule our emotions and desires with truth, but rather are told to surrender to them.  We live in a culture that reduces our identity to our desires, to our feelings.  We are constantly barraged with, “Just do what feels right.”  “Stop denying how you feel and let it go.”  The tragedy of our age is that we have permitted sin and the passions of the corrupt flesh to begin to rule.  We are yielding and surrendering to that which kills.  

God, however,  demands us to surrender/present ourselves to truth, to Himself. He calls us to something bigger, greater.  He calls us to the promise of life and abundance but living according to truth, yielding according to truth and forcing our passions and desires to yield and submit to what is real and good and true.  

The truth is, though, we all, every day are bowing the knee, presenting ourselves to something; surrendering to something. The question is not “if” we are but to “whom” or “what” are we surrendering.

Are you, today, bowing the knee in surrender to the passions and desires of the flesh, to your feelings?

OR

Are you today, bowing the knee in surrender to truth and demanding that your passions and desires comply with that truth?

Despite what it may seem like, surrender is not an evil thing. It is defeat, yes. But that defeat can be good depending on what your knee dips to.  

Surrender, to the right thing, leads to life, to joy, and blessing. But to the wrong thing, it leads to death.

Surrender to Christ, and His lordship, as our Creator, Sustainer, Lord, Savior, Friend – surely these truths alone are enough to bring our passions to yield – to surrender to Him.

The truth is, HE is the path to true freedom and joy.  Our passions and desires cannot be trusted.  The corrupt flesh ensures that.  Even our passions and desires must learn to yield to truth, to Him.  

But truthfully, the benefits of surrendering to Christ are secondary – or should be.  If we only pursue submission to Christ for the benefits that it brings, we are doing so for the wrong reasons and even that will fail.  We surrender because He is worthy of it – because He is good and true.  We do not surrender merely for the personal benefit to us.  

Love is unselfishly choosing for another’s highest good.  To love God is to choose for His highest good. Granted, in so doing, we also receive immense personal benefit, but we choose to surrender primarily because we are choosing for His highest good and because He is worthy of it because of who He is and what He has accomplished for us through salvation.  

When we see the fullness of Jesus – when we see the fullness of God, the beauty and majesty of what we behold should alone compel us to voluntarily yield – to surrender – to His total and complete control in our lives.  

The question, then, burning and urgent is this…

“To whom or what will my knee dip in surrender today?”