What must I surrender to God?

Luke 14:33“So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.”

Luke 18:21-23The man replied, “I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.” When Jesus heard his answer, he said, “There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich.

Philippians 3:8Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ.

1 John 5:21Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.

We must surrender anything and everything that threatens to take God’s place in our hearts. Anything that takes God’s place of top priority in our lives is an idol, a false god we have chosen to worship instead of him. If we cannot surrender to God, we are showing that we have surrendered to something or someone else.

Romans 6:2, 6-7, 11Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? . . . We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. . . . So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

Galatians 5:24-25Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Colossians 2:20You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world?

1 Peter 2:24He [Jesus] personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

1 Peter 4:1So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with the same attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.

We must surrender our sinful desires and passions to God’s forgiveness, for we cannot live in the presence of a Holy God with the filth of sin infecting our hearts. This surrender is difficult, since it does violence to our will and our selfish inclinations, but it is easy compared to a life and eternity without God.