Surrender

Romans 12:1 NIV: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.”

As we approach Good Friday and Easter, when Christ offered himself as the ultimate, once-and-forever sacrifice for us, this verse from Romans came to mind, in which we, too, are challenged to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice.

What I kept coming back to was, what is the position of this type of offering? How can I tangibly symbolize the surrender of my life to Him? For me, it is the open hands, empty, with palms up, ready to receive.

Our hands being empty is essential because we must first release our tight control over everything. This is the most challenging aspect of surrender, symbolized in the artwork as tight fists. We trust ourselves—our strength, decision-making, knowledge, and plans—over the unknown of God’s will.

We might show up and stretch out our arms, but in no way will we let go.
Sometimes, I think we get close, willing to open our hands, but then we try to hide just a few parts of ourselves that we feel ashamed of, assuming we can keep those in the dark. While we might not have clenched fists, we don’t want to disclose everything.

Other times, we aren’t trying to hide anything but are unwilling to untangle ourselves from everything. We have sticky habits, attitudes, and relationships, and we try to do both—keep them and be available for God.

Once we finally empty ourselves and open our hands to let everything go, there is still one more step: We must flip our hands over to be ready to receive. If our hands don’t change direction, we’ll miss out on the whole point of surrender, which is to be lavishly filled with the abundance of God’s love.

It takes courage to release control and be willing to accept what Christ offers, and it feels vulnerable to have those empty hands exposed, waiting to be filled. If you find yourself hesitating, remind yourself that God is only goodness and desires the absolute best for your life.