Unconditional Surrender

At the end of World War II when Japan surrendered to the U.S., the surrender was unconditional. Japan could not demand any conditions. The U.S. gave Japan no guarantees or promises. Japan’s surrender was absolute and complete. They put their country totally in the hands of the U.S.

That’s exactly what God wants of us. Total and unconditional surrender. Don’t we often come to God to surrender with our list of conditions and terms?

We surrender with conditions. We say, “Jesus, I’ll surrender if  . . .” Then we list all the things we need to handle ourselves, e.g. job, family, straying teenager, finances, and so on.

Unconditional surrender means we give up all rights to our lives. We make no further plans on our own. We go on living but we’re living surrendered to Jesus’ plan for us.

Unconditional surrender means giving up control, trusting Jesus and believing that Jesus’ plan for our lives is the best plan, full of grace and mercy. Better than any plan we could ever imagine ourselves.