Characteristics of a Life Surrendered to God
“You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.”
David (Ps. 51:16-17) NLT
Focuses on the failure of others
Self righteous, critical, fault-finding
Looks down on others
Self-condemning, although often hidden
Independent, self-sufficient spirit
Maintains control – must be “my way”
Has to prove he’s right
Claims rights
Demanding spirit
Self-protective of time, rights, reputation
Desires to be served
Desires self-advancement
Driven to be recognized
Thinks of what he can do for God
Trumps others through his knowledge
Self-conscious, self-absorbed
Guarded with others
Quick to blame
Unapproachable
Defensive when criticized
Concerned with being respectable
Clings to his self-proclaimed “word from God”
Overly concerned with what others will think
Works to maintain and protect his reputation
Hides his sin
Confesses sin in generalities
Clings to gifts from God
Remorseful over his sin
Demands those he disagrees with see it his way
Displays false humility
Uses the words of God
Uses “god talk” to control others or get his way
Blind to his true heart condition
Promotes an “experience with God”
Durable, thick-skinned for the moment
Aware of his own spiritual need
Compassionate, forgiving, looks for best in others
Esteems others higher than himself
Accepts himself for who God says he is
Dependent spirit, recognizes need for others
Surrenders control
A willingness to yield the right to be right
Yields rights
Giving spirit
Self-denying without self-deprecation
Motivated to serve others
Promotes others
A willingness for others to get recognition
A willing sacrifice for God “to do” through him
Humbled by how much he is still learning
Lost in the wonder of God’s presence
Takes risks in relationships and closeness to others
Owns personal failures, if accurate
Easily entreated
Listens to criticism humbly even when innaccurate
Concerned with being real
Seeks confirmation from “The Word of God”
What matters most is what God knows
Lays down his rights to his own reputation
Exposes his sin. Can’t live without honesty
Deals in specifics
Clings to God himself
Repentant over his sin and forsakes it
Lets irreconcilable people go
Humble before God
Lives the “Word of God”
Respects uniqueness in others to hear from God
Walks in the Light
Quietly manifests the “experience of God”
Invincible always through God’s strength
Prayer: “Lord, I surrender right now. I want to live the life described in column 2, so I’m giving myself up to you. I pray the words of this old hymn . . .
Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure store.
Take myself, and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.2
1 Public Domain
2 Frances R. Havergal, 1874
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Responses (16)
Good day to you – your post on Characteristics of a surrendered life is scrambled and unable to be read – Appreciate all you do – blessings
Hey Thom! So sorry about the email being scrambled and unreadable! Our technology isn’t quite as integrated as we’d like! We are working on a fix behind the scenes to make sure it doesn’t happen again. In the mean time, the post here on the website is not garbled and formatted correctly to make it easy to read.
Thanks for opening the email and letting us know! We appreciate people like you who help us be better.
My email was a little jumbled but this post is just great. Convicting and encouraging…just like the voice of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Regi for sharing this today.
Great comparison! Loved it.
Thanks Larry
How does one move from column 1 to the next?
I’d say three things lead one from column one to column two . . .
1. Selflessness – realizing that true peace and fulfillment in life comes from being “others focused’ vs. self focused.
2. Humility – realizing that I am nothing without Jesus. An abiding gratitude for all He’s done for me keeps me humbly aware that it’s Him, not me.
3. Trust – Knowing that He is in everything . . . responsible for all outcomes . . . that this life is a ‘birth canal’ to the next, that He loves you and will take care of you no matter what. The peace coming from that gives a bedrock from which we build a life of love for others, selflessness and humility.
. . . hate to sound so ‘churchy’, but I know no other words to express this.
I’d say three things lead one from column one to column two . . .
1. Selflessness – realizing that true peace and fulfillment in life comes from being “others focused’ vs. self focused.
2. Humility – realizing that I am nothing without Jesus. An abiding gratitude for all He’s done for me keeps me humbly aware that it’s Him, not me.
3. Trust – Knowing that He is in everything . . . responsible for all outcomes . . . that this life is a ‘birth canal’ to the next, that He loves you and will take care of you no matter what. The peace coming from that gives a bedrock from which we build a life of love for others, selflessness and humility.
. . . hate to sound so ‘churchy’, but I know no other words to express this.
A good friend forwarded this article to me. I think it’s very well done, and I basically agree with your reply to the question about moving from one column to the other. I would only add that the process must begin (or end) with a heartfelt appeal to the Lord, evidencing one’s brokenness and readiness to accept another way. Only then can Christ manifest the changes in us that you describe so well.
Thank you for this site, for your service to others, and your life in Christ. Keep up the good work.
I agree with you. His invitation awaits a response, and crying out to Him is an absolute must. Thanks for the encouragement Marcus.
I’m thankful to have found your blog! I love the contrast in your lists…we so much need the surrender you highlight here.
I’m blogging right now about Post Traumatic Stress (http://athenadeanholtz.com/blog/03132015/dealing-ptsd-adrenaline-and-triggers-part-one) and how Christian women struggle with the symptoms without realizing it. I experienced it because wounding in my life had not fully been surrendered to Jesus and the results were astonishing. Simple everyday environmental happenings like sounds and smells would, unbeknownst to me, trigger the pain and my behavior became reactionary…fight or flee.
As a Christian, I WANTED to surrender…but because I hadn’t allowed Jesus to come in and fully heal those traumas in my life, I was unable to… Once I finally saw the truth, that I was allowing my wounds to control me, that it was idolatry, and repented…allowing Him into all those painful places in my past…I was finally willing and able to embrace the surrender He wanted from me.
I wonder if any of your other readers have experienced this?
My experience is that realizing how much God loves me is the core ‘medicine’ for healing. Everything changes when we grasp that God loves us just as we are. 100%. Can’t love us more, can’t love us less. Don’t have to perform. Just receive.
Amen. That is truth!
Reaching the point of realizing that I have been moving towards Iiving a consecrated life has been a journey, almost like following the crumbs Holy Spirit (“H.S.”) dropped. I am totally amazed that I am at this point in my walk. I couldn’t possibly say all the steps (stages) I’ve gone through (paradigm shifts) to arrive at this juncture because it would be a book. H.S. led me to your article. I can see the transformation in my life from column 1 to 2. I do know that I had been running from the consecrated life; I felt I would be boring & no one would want to be around me. As it is turning out, I don’t want to be around people who are not “about my Father’s business” . . . a complete shift . . . very strange! I do know I am in a learning curve. H.S. is my teacher & leading me to what He wants me to learn…a very exciting journey. One more thing . . . about a month or 2 ago I told H.S. I don’t want to live an ordinary life anymore; I want everyday to be supernatural and everyday since has been “supernatural.” I am in total awe.
When chronically ill & debilitated, &how does one move from self focused on staying alive & getting well to being other focused to follow Jesus? Racked with pain & increasing inability to move & function such that i am mostly home-bound and feel useless, how does one reconcile this state of being as I move closer to the grave physically but not emotionally, i am deeply saddened & discouraged when i look back on my self-centered life & feel like when i realized I needed to change, i am overwhelmed with increasingly intensifying & demanding medical needs.
Do I “Trust in the Lord with all my heart & lean not on my own understanding so that He will dirrct my paths?” By turning to Palliative care instead of pursuing the best doctors & best care, which takes all if my time and energy and makes me feel useless ‘ a burden to loved ones; when i would loveto be helpjng with thecare of the littleones of the next generation both in the generalpublic and my own extended family? How do what I am told to do to keep myself alive and not be utterly self-
ish, self-focused & burdensome & useless. How do I maintain hope when I want to follow Jesus but was saved so late in life? I am brokenhearted.
Regi, I just discovered this post today, and I love it. It strikes me that another label you could give to the unbroken and un-surrendered list would be “deeds of the flesh,” and the other list, “fruit of the Spirit.” How full of flesh I was for so many decades! Praise the Lord that He allowed me to come to utter ruin and find Him in the rubble. Thank you for what you’ve written here. It’s quite helpful. (I’ve self-published a book about my own experiences in rebuilding in Christ after a fall. You can find it at http://www.doulosacrios.com.) Blessings!