A Closer Walk

A CLOSER WALK
Greg Worthen

There is a hymn we don't hear much anymore called “I Surrender All.” The first verse says, “All to Jesus I surrender, All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.” Words by Judson W. Van Demeter, 1855-1939, music by Winfield S. Weeden, 1847-1908. As Americans we don't really like the idea of surrender. Giving up. Admitting that the situation is too hard for us. But is surrender always a bad thing? Look at the words again. “All to Jesus I surrender... .” This is entirely voluntary on our part. All to Jesus I surrender. Not forced into service. No arm twisting. We, you and I, voluntarily surrender ourselves and our situation and our circumstance to our Lord. That is not giving up. Or admitting defeat. That is finding a better way.
A better way? Better than what? Well. Likely better than the way we have been doing things, or approaching life. A better way. Giving up is quitting. Taking a detour is not. A better way. Not taking the detour and charging ahead we may find a bridge missing. Now what? A detour actually helps us to safely arrive at the destination we were headed for. And so does a better route. Which is better? Taking U.S. 81 to Belleville or taking gravel roads for the entire trip? Obviously the four lane fully paved road will get there quicker and easier.
Even the most arrogant person must admit that they don't know everything there is to know. About anything. They may consider themselves a bit of an expert in a certain area, but no person knows everything there is to know about anything. Expert. Once heard a pastor define expert like this. X equals the unknown. Spurt is a drip of water under pressure. So an expert is an unknown drip under pressure. Pretty good, huh? But the fact remains that we cannot know everything about anything, not to mention knowing everything about everything.
There are two ways of seeing our relationship with our Lord and our God. First way, how much of God do we have? He is infinite and eternal. Both those terms are difficult to reconcile with our temporal world, which is where we live. And He is more than we can even fathom. The second, and most important way, is how much of us does our God have? This is what the hymn refers to. How much of us does God have? First line, “All to Jesus I surrender... .” And then it continues, “All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust Him, In His presence daily live.” If we did just those for things what would our life be like?
Second verse, “All to Jesus I surrender, Humbly at His feet I bow; Worldly pleasures all forsaken, Take me, Jesus, take me now.” Bowing humbling at His feet we voluntarily forsake worldly pleasures. I take that to mean not throwing away anything that brings us joy; that could include our spouse, our children, and our grandchildren. And we know that our God created the family before He created the church. Rather I take the words “worldly pleasures all forsaken” to mean any worldly pleasure we see as more important that our Lord and/or our relationship with Him.
Third verse, “All to Jesus I surrender, Make me, Savior, wholly Thine; Let me feel the Holy Spirit, Truly know that Thou art mine.” Make me Savior wholly thine. In other words, we are offering ourselves to Him completely and totally. And after that, we can ask to actually feel the Holy Spirit. Beginning at the point of salvation the Holy Spirit is given to us , indwells us, and remains with us forever. But we may not have a sense of His presence. But we could ask for that.
Fourth verse, “All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee; Fill me with Thy love and power, Let Thy blessing fall on me.” All to Jesus I surrender, Lord I give myself to Thee. And because of this act of surrender I ask that you fill me with your love and power. Further, I ask that you would let your blessing fall on me.
Fifth verse, “All to Jesus I surrender, Now I feel the sacred flame; Oh, the joy of full salvation! Glory, glory, to His Name!” As a result of our surrender we begin to offer glory to God. Glory, Glory, Glory to God!
Each verse extols a different representation of surrender. And what are we surrendering? Us. Our all. Everything we are, everything we have. No holding back. This is absolutely NOT giving up. This is absolutely NOT quitting. This is a better way to life and living. This is a better relationship with our God. If our God has all of us, there is nothing left for us to offer. Sure we continue to put money in the offering. We continue to help the poor and needy. We continue to support missionaries. We are commanded to do these things. However, if our Lord has our all, our everything, we may now be able to see this world through an eternal perspective. This could push us to do things we know will have an eternal result. Which would build up the Kingdom of God. And help to spread the gospel. Even to the ends of the earth.
Refrain: “I surrender all, I surrender all; All to Thee, my blessed Savior,
I surrender all.”
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Videos for this song and others that are referred to in this space are available on You Tube.