I Surrender All

"All to Jesus, I surrender; All to Him I freely give; I will ever love and trust him, in His presence daily live."
I Surrender All
Judson W. VanDeVenter   1896

I am learning the truth of these words more each day. In fact, the words of this first verse of the old hymn are so packed with truth, that I think we need to look at it phrase by phrase:
    "All to Jesus I surrender." Apparently, this means everything that I deal with must be surrendered to God; my flesh, my finances, my health, my relationships, my stuff...everything!
    "All to Him I freely give." There is no one making me do it. God is not controlling me like a puppet. I must make a decision to freely give all that I am to Christ. This starts with the very basic things of my life; my personality, my longings, my past, my future, and even my sin.
    "I will ever love and trust Him." If I freely surrender everything I have, everything I am, to Jesus, I must be absolutely willing to trust him with it all. This explains why every time I pray, his answer seems to be, "Trust me."
    "In His presence daily live." Here is where the whole thing is summed up: I must choose every day, to live in his presence. If I choose to submit to the fears, temptations and struggles of my daily life in this world, I will have missed an opportunity to be in an intimate moment with the God of the universe. I think this is an incredible blessing that he has given to all of us who are Christians. We can actually live in his presence every day of our lives...if we choose to.
    So, hum a few bars of this song today and remember the words. It just might change your attitude and your outlook on life. The God who created everything is asking you to hang out with him. How could you refuse so great an invitation?