“I will never surrender of my own free will.”
This isn’t the rant of an unruly rebel—defiant and disobedient to authority. This is the standard mindset prescribed by Article II of the Code of Conduct, enacted by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, for all members of the Armed Forces of the United States. This expected code of conduct declares: “I will continue to resist (the enemy) by all means available. I will make every effort to escape (the enemy) and aid others to escape. I will accept neither parole nor special favors from the enemy.”
“Surrender is not an option.” I’ve heard military veterans talk about this. It may seem like nothing more than semantics, but they say that a good soldier never SURRENDERS, per se, but rather SUBMITS to the orders of his Commanding Officer. Without hesitation, without argument, without end.
It’s easy to apply this same code of conduct when we are born again and become a Child of the King. At that moment, we willingly enlist in God’s Army. It becomes our solemn duty to pledge our loyalty, faith, and allegiance to Jesus only. Our lifelong commitment is to show respect, honor, integrity, and courage in selfless service to our King and to His Kingdom.
When we tearfully sing the beautiful old hymn, “I Surrender All,” it’s not talking about surrendering to an enemy, as in the military sense. Rather it means submitting wholeheartedly to the Benevolent King whom we truly love. SURRENDER is what we refuse to do. SUBMISSION is what we unreservedly DO—submitting our will, our desires, our plans to the WILL, DESIRE, and PLAN of the chiefest Commander in CHIEF. Our aspirations and hopes meld into His—our total trust and confidence are fixed in HIM. Wherever we go, He walks point—and we follow. In absolute obedience.
“If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24 KJV)
What does it mean to “deny oneself?” Some would say it means to completely surrender all of our own interests, priorities, and goals. But consider this: as our natural interests are often born of talents bestowed on us by our Creator, it seems that to abandon them would show disrespect to the Giver.
When Jesus commands that we deny our SELF, He’s not saying, “Drop dead” … but rather “Follow Me.” Not to become a mindless robot, but a willing servant. True SUBMISSION is not renouncing, but redirecting our gifts, interests, priorities, and goals from benefitting our own SELF to solely bringing glory to GOD.
I’ve heard it said, “Obedience isn’t about convenience; it’s about surrender. True faith starts where your comfort zone ends.” But consider the possibility that God isn’t always asking us to walk outside our “comfort zone.” Perhaps true submission is when HIS Will BECOMES our comfort zone—when walking in obedience is what we WANT to do. When fulfilling His desires to the best of our abilities becomes OUR passion.
“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Psalm 40:8 KJV)
“Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” (Psalm 119:133 KJV)
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:7,8,10 KJV)
Pastor and author Alistair Begg described it this way: “Real submission to God is the outworking of a truly humble heart. To submit to God is to align ourselves under His authority. We submit with a joyful, happy abandonment to God’s will as it is revealed to us in His Word. It is our delight to discover His truth and act accordingly.”
This is not resistant surrender. It is freely and fully offered SUBMISSION, and the hallmark of SUBMISSION is humility.
“Submission is willingly coming under the authority of another. This is why every true Christian is a submissive person. The new heart that God gave us when he saved us, and made us his own, pumps submissive life all through our new selves.” —Abigail Dodds, “Submission is a Wonderful Weapon”
This I know: obedience gets easier with practice. The word “surrender” is not in the Bible. Rather, we are called to SUBMIT our will, our plans, our opinions to the Captain of our salvation, and that doesn’t just happen. It’s giving it all to God one opinion at a time. It’s finding the power of “YES!”—of saying “Yes” to our King and Commander at the expense of our own opinion and self-will. And it’s not really surrendering against our will as much as it’s submitting by an act of our free will.
Hiroo Onoda was barely 18 when he enlisted in the infantry of the Imperial Japanese Army. In 1944, he was sent to a remote post in the jungles of Lubang Island in the Philippines, during the waning months of World War II. Onoda’s orders were clear: to hamper enemy attacks on the island and never to surrender. “I became an officer,” he later said, “and I received an order. If I could not carry it out, I would feel shame.” That command became Onoda’s single driving force.
In 1945, when Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces, Onoda thought it was a ruse. So, he continued to fight on alone, living by that same rule, “never surrender” … for 29 years. When his still-surviving commanding officer finally returned to the island in 1974 and discharged him of his duties, at last Onoda did what he could never do: he surrendered. When asked what was going through his mind all those years as he continued fighting his own war in the jungle, Onoda simply said, “Nothing but accomplishing my duty.”
Think of it! Imagine stepping on shore … and finding it Heaven! Finally making it HOME! Free at last, running into the outstretched arms of Jesus and crying, “I never surrendered!! I never compromised or gave in to the enemy! I fought a good fight! I finished my tour of duty! I kept the faith! My allegiance has only been to YOU—and to YOU ALONE!”
When asked on that day what went through our minds all those years, we will not consider for a moment what we gave up—what we surrendered. Our treasure forever will be what we willingly gave, committed—SUBMITTED—to the KING Eternal!
