Step 5 - Becoming More Like Christ
Step 5 – Becoming More like Christ
Remember when we used hymnals and sang all of the traditional songs? One that we sang often in the church where I grew up – especially during the altar call was “I Surender All”. I guess we sang it during that time to be an encouragement to those who had not yet surrendered their lives to Christ.
“All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give. I will ever love and trust Him,
in His presence daily live. I surrender all. I surrender all.”
Surrender by definition means to cease resistance and submit to authority. We gloss over those words and want to believe that we have ceased to resist God and that we are submitted to His authority. But, for most of us, the truth is we are our own governing power. We submit to the authority of our own opinions and do what we decide is best for us and those we love. Because we do, we miss out on much of what God has for us.
Surrender is an imperative step to becoming like Christ. We can have head knowledge, let it seep into our heart, work on developing intimacy with Jesus, and recognize His greatness – but without surrender we will have no hope of becoming like Christ. Yes, it was our initial surrender to the drawing of the Holy Spirit that lead to our salvation, but there are levels of surrender that draw us deeper in our relationship with Jesus and change us to become more like Him.
Step 5:
Surrender. Surrender is not a one and done action. We are to continually surrender more and more areas of our lives. As we do, we will become more and more like Him.
How can we surrender all of “me” to all of Him? It is not easy. It is a choice that we will have to make over and over and over again. And the really hard part is the “all” of me part. You see, we want to reserve some areas of our life – either because we have never even considered that God cared about those areas or because we aren’t interested in those areas changing.
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you for you are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 6:12-14
This is surrender. All of me – all my body parts, all of the areas of my life – are to be presented to God as instruments of righteousness. It is a struggle. We want to reserve our need for validation for our spouse, our mother or that person we continually try to please – instead of surrendering that area. We give little thought to the fact that not caring for our health or making our health a little g god is the opposite of surrender. Other areas we may not have even considered surrendering are how we manage our money, our career, and even our sex life. Yep. Even that. Surrendering all of me means surrendering ALL of ME. When we do, we will exhibit the fruits of the spirit described in Galatians 5:22 – love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
The more we surrender, the more our self-centered and opinionated ways cease, and the more we become like Christ. Less of me, more of Him – over and over again – until that glorious day we stand face to face. Then we will know Him as we are known.
“and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again... Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:15 & 17
Why does this matter? Why should we care if we are becoming more and more like Jesus? Why can’t we just continue to be selfish and live for ourselves? Well, because we love God. His word tells us that if we love Him, we will obey Him. And when we obey Him, others notice that we are a little bit different. They see His light, or they see Jesus alive in us. We may be the only Bible they ever read, the only glimpse of Jesus they will ever see. And for them – it could matter for all eternity.
A Note from Pam:
Hi sweet friend. Thank you for traveling this journey with me. I love that we encourage one another to focus on the things that matter most.
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