We love Jesus and want to dedicate our lives to Him, but our stubborn old self keeps getting in the way. How do we conform our will to that of God? Francois Fenelon once wrote, “The way to have a good will that conforms to God is to give up our desires and fears and to leave ourselves completely in His hands. Those who do so… can never be moved, because their only desire is for God.”
Living God’s will for your life necessitates a complete letting go. Too often we make the mistake of trying to figure out how to use our dreams and passions in conjunction with God’s will. That’s a totally backwards approach.
To be conformed to God’s will starts with surrendering everything we are to Him. We must surrender our deepest desires and our longest held beliefs and assumptions. We must put aside our hopes and dreams, our likes and dislikes. We must surrender everything. We must become no one. That is the essence of letting go. It doesn’t matter who you used to be or who you wanted to become. The only thing that matters is Jesus. If you think losing your identity is too much to ask, you don’t understand where your true identity is found. Jesus said if you want to find yourself, you must first realize you are hopelessly lost (Matthew 10:39).
Without letting go of everything else, we can never fully take hold of Christ. We are either for Him or against Him (Matthew 12:30). If we are for Him, we have left everything behind to follow Him (Matthew 19:27-28). You cannot hold tightly to Jesus with both hands while maintaining a grip on anything else. It doesn’t matter; you don’t need any of your old baggage anyway. In Christ you have become a new person (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your every dream and desire is fulfilled in Him. There is nothing you could possibly want other than Jesus Himself. By letting go of everything you know, you will find all you ever wanted.
Leaving ourselves completely in His hands is not a scary thing. In fact, it should alleviate all our fears. Can you conceive of a safer place than in the hands of the all-powerful, all-loving God of the Universe? Do you think you can find a safer place on your own? Jesus loves you more than you could ever dream or imagine. He loves you with a perfect love, and that love casts out all fear (1 John 4:18).
Letting go is incredibly difficult because Satan and his demons fight with all they’ve got to keep you clutching tightly to your own will, dreams, and possessions. The devil is the master of lies (John 8:44). Deception is his calling card and he’s very good at it. The only solution is to surrender to God and believe He alone holds the key to a life of significance. You have been created with a unique blend of talents, passions, and dreams in order to accomplish specific work for His Kingdom (Ephesians 2:10). You can’t work with both hands if you are still clutching tightly to the things of this world. There must be a letting go. There must be a surrender. It’s not easy, but it is essential, and it is eternally worth it.