Jesus modeled everything for us. How to live. How to love. How to give. How to pray. Though He was sinless and God in human form, He even showed us how to step into saving faith and a right relationship with God through complete surrender.
What would you consider Jesus’ greatest example of faith? You know, that cataclysmic collision of unwavering belief and profound trust.
Was it when He:
- told the search party of soldiers, “I am the one you want”?
- was arrested and sent to Annas and Caiphas?
- shared His true identity with Pilate?
- didn’t fight back when He was mocked, whipped, and beaten?
- remained silent?
- told Pilate that he had no power over Him?
- Maybe it was when the nails penetrated His hands and feet.
- Or perhaps His greatest example of faith came as His body sunk and stole His breath.
It certainly required great faith to trust God through each of those painful moments. I believe that maybe, just maybe, Jesus’ greatest demonstration of faith happened in exactly the same way it happens for you and me – with a prayer of surrender.
It’s humbling to realize that Jesus had you and me on His mind as He modeled how to withstand the struggles and temptations of this world. Being perfectly innocent, He didn’t have to go to the cross. Yet He did it first to show us how to die to ourselves, bury our past mistakes, and rise up, not refurbished, but made completely new!
We don’t usually think about Jesus having a choice, but He did. His love for us was great and His mission was clear. Could He have called 10,000 angels to help Him escape? Absolutely! Yet, love compelled Him to surrender.
I believe that Jesus’ human resolve was strengthened in the Garden of Gethsemane. He repeatedly checked on Peter, James, and John, His sleepy friends. Their inability to stay awake while He prayed highlighted their weakness. Their vulnerability and His love may have fueled an even stronger passion to rescue them, and all of us, from spiritual death.
Jesus’ spiritual surrender to God’s will in the garden was agonizing, tearful, and heart-wrenching. His full surrender came with the words, “Not my will, Father, but yours be done.”
I recently witnessed one of the most powerful prayers of surrender I’ve ever heard. It was prayed by a young woman in drug rehab who met Jesus at a women’s conference. Her physical body had already detoxed, and she finally realized it was time for her soul to get clean. She stepped forward, fell to her knees, repented, and cried out to God. Her agonizing tears and cries of “I surrender!” soon turned into worshipful praise. She did not walk out the same as she had come in. She had been washed in the water of the Word and convicted by the Holy Spirit so she could enjoy a new, forever relationship with God. Her surrender was genuine and heartfelt. She had been made new! And she knew it!
The gospel that Jesus modeled is not a list of do’s and don’ts that turn us into good little church girls and boys. The gospel isn’t about what we do or don’t do during a Sunday morning worship service. It’s about what Jesus did in the garden and on the cross. It’s all centered on Him making the way for us to become beloved sons and daughters of God Almighty. We become part of His family when we put off our old self, surrender our will to His, and put on Christ.
At least twenty-three times in the first eleven chapters of Romans, Paul wrote that we are saved by faith—that cataclysmic collision of unwavering belief and profound trust. As we prepare this week and next to shine an extra bright light on Jesus’ resurrection, this might be a wonderful time to remember your moment of complete surrender. Share it with someone in your world who needs a better life. This allows them to put away their old self, bury their past mistakes, and rise up—not refurbished, but completely new! They need the chance to JUST BREATHE. You’ll breathe easier too.
“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.” (Ephesians 4:21-24 NLT)
