…..So a backwards statement gets our attention. Why is that?  Is it because it stands in stark contrast to what you have always known, and always done?  Partly.  Mostly, you just want to make sure it’s not something you’ve missed that really counts, or means the difference between good and bad, better and best.  Backward things don’t always make sense to us.  Like, take Matthew 10:39 for example:

Matthew 10:39

“If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for me, you will find it.”  [Jesus speaking]

Seriously, tell me how do I purposefully seek to lose my life to someone in order to find it?  I’m not wired to do that, am I?  Statements like these are, well, … scary!  I mean, the act of surrendering itself is scary.  And even risky many times.  It is innate to “cling”.  I don’t have to think about holding on, but I do have to think about how NOT to hold on!

Oddly enough, Matthew’s account of Jesus’ words is not the first time we are presented with this idea of senseless surrender. There is a story in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 38, of King Zedekiah who was faced with a choice of holding on, or senselessly surrendering his very life!

Just to set it up – the prophet Jeremiah was in trouble.  He was thrown into an empty cistern, with a thick layer of mud at the bottom (which, of course, made him sink) for telling the officials and the people of Jerusalem that everyone who stayed there would die from war, famine, or disease; but those who would surrender to the Babylonians would live. Their reward for surrendering would be life. (verse 2)

Eventually, King Zedekiah had his officials bring Jeremiah to him so he could question Jeremiah about what the LORD had told him. Here’s how that conversation went down:

Jeremiah 38:17-18

“Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.'”

Okay …. then it gets good! Look at the next couple of verses:

Jeremiah 38:19-20

“But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”  Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you.”

Sometimes, surrendering feels like a death trap when we consider the possible outcomes that are very much out of our control. Incidentally, Jeremiah told the king that if he chose NOT to surrender, a whole list of other problems awaited. (verses 21-23)

What’s the point of all this?  Glad you asked!  The moral of the story is not that we must surrender to our enemies. It is that we must surrender to the sovereign authority and instruction of God, and choose obedience even when we are terrified of the potential outcome!  A surrendered heart is one that TRUSTS GOD no matter what!  Is that you?  If not, what is it that you are holding on to?  Is holding on worth losing your life?  Is letting go worth finding it?  Tough questions, I know.  But, obedience is obedience, pure and simple.  Either we will obey, or we won’t.  Either we will let Him have all of us, or we won’t.

Which brings us back to Matthew 10:39 when Jesus said, “If you cling to your life, you will lose it; but if you give up your life for Me, you will find it.”

Don’t be afraid to surrender to Him. He has AMAZING blessings for you on the other side of surrender and obedience!

Love & Blessings!

-Cindy Magsig