Jumping Into the Deep End of the Pool

One of the key requirements for having the kind of spiritual life we see in the heroes of our faith is an often neglected term: total surrender or total abandonment to God. Or, to make it personal, to be surrendered totally or become totally abandoned to Him. We see this concept in the works of Oswald Chambers and Andrew Murray and many of the other “higher Christian life” proponents of the last century. It was a major theme in the Keswick Movement that had such a lasting effect in the first half of the twentieth century. And the idea of total surrender or total abandonment to God is the foundation in the teaching of Jesus in John 15 about the vine and the branches and the art of “abiding in Him.”

But what does it mean to experience total surrender or total abandonment to God?

What is Total Surrender or Total Abandonment to God?

First, to surrender or experience total abandonment means to “yield ownership or control over what we consider ours: our property, our time, our rights, our self.” This is the key that unlocks the door to the

“abundant life” Jesus promised (John 10:10). There is no other way.

In “My Utmost for His Highest”, Oswald Chambers defines total surrender this way:

Genuine total surrender is a personal sovereign preference for Jesus Christ Himself.

Then he gives this warning:

Beware of stopping anywhere short of total surrender to God. Most of us have only a vision of what this really means, but have never truly experienced it.

If you desire to surrender more of yourself to Him, by all means, keep listening.