I’ve often heard Christians say that they want more of God and less of themselves. It’s a noble but misguided prayer. The goal is not to have more of God and less of us, but rather to have all of God and none of us. This is more than just semantics. For too long we’ve misrepresented what it means to surrender our lives to Jesus.
When you surrender, you give up everything. Yet far more often than not, very little is surrendered to Jesus. We’ll make a few tweaks to our lifestyle, but significant and lasting change is rare. Following Jesus dictates a total surrender of our lives.
I don’t need more of God and less of me. I need to get rid of every trace of my old life. Everything I do must be with God in mind. Accepting Christ is not just about what happens when we die. It’s much more about what we do while we’re alive. God’s will for your life and mine is that everything we do is done to further His Kingdom. We’re not here to see how much “stuff” we can collect, how much pleasure we can obtain, or how much success we can achieve. We are here for one purpose: to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind and to love everyone else in the same way (Luke 10:25-28).
The problem with most so-called Christians today is they prayed a prayer at some point in their lives that they figured set them up for an enjoyable afterlife. Then they go about living their lives, with only a few minor exceptions, as they always have. I’m not exactly sure when this version of Christianity came into vogue, but I do know it has garnered an impressive head of steam over the past couple hundred years; it’s how we got to the point we are now, a generation of “more of God, less of me” Christians.
Until we are putting the needs of others before our own, we aren’t committed. As long as we are seeking our comfort over the comfort of others, we are not surrendered. It’s easy to pledge your life to something or someone. It’s much more difficult to live out that pledge. While we are convinced we have eternity covered, what will it be like when we stand before Jesus and have to admit we couldn’t say the way we lived proved we were either committed or surrendered? How secure do you think we’ll be at that moment? Jesus said many would come to Him calling Him Lord, but He would send them away because He never knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). To put it another way, many will claim to be surrendered, but most are not.
The true follower of Jesus is only content to pursue the goal of “none of me and all of God”. As long as we allow our selfish ambitions to creep in, influence our decisions and determine what we will do, we will never experience the life God has planned for us. We told Him we surrendered all to Him. Isn’t it time we started delivering on our commitment?