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Mystery #1: Surrender

    The earliest Christians were surrendered to God in ways we have never experienced. For the Early Church, death-to-self wasn’t just a metaphor. They lived in the middle of a hostile culture and their decision to follow Jesus often came with fatal consequences. Yet they did it anyway. 

    Not to suggest that modern believers need to be on the brink of martyrdom all the time, but it is clarifying, is it not? Their stark choice to surrender to God in the face of persecution is particularly jarring when compared to many of today’s churches that have designed their entire program around avoiding any sort of distress for their parishioners. “We don’t want to make people uncomfortable” is the silent slogan at many houses of worship. Too often, it’s also the secret longing of our hearts. We want it our way and we want it easy. 

    Even the centuries-old concept of surrendering your life to Jesus has been business-class-comforted up in today’s churches to “accepting Jesus.”  Just consider that word choice for a second: we’ve taken what was for the Early Church a hauntingly holy moment of total capitulation akin to signing your own death warrant . . . and turned it into a personal decision closer to hemming and hawing whether to sign for a FedEx package or not. 

    To surrender is our heart admitting our weakness. To accept is our ego demanding the illusion of still being in charge.

    Even if we finally yearn to break away from our illusion of control, in today’s selfie culture that will be far more difficult than we think. But it must start with the recognition that we play no part in the transaction. Jesus says clearly in John 15:16, “You did not choose me, but I chose you.”

    Moses didn’t have a say in the bush burning near him. Mary didn’t get to choose if the angel suddenly appeared. Paul had absolutely no control on the Damascus Road. We may pretend to play a role in “accepting” Jesus, but God demands that our surrender be unconditional.

    Surrender is the key that unlocks the other six mysteries. Without it, we remain stuck at square one.

PRAYER: Father, I’m both humbled that you seek me out, and terrified at the prospect of total surrender to you. But I take my place in the long line of flawed people since the beginning of time willing to answer your call to surrender completely to you. Take all of me, Father. Use me as you wish. My life is yours. Amen.