To many of us, I Surrender All  (lyrics below) is a familiar song. Perhaps, like me, it is a song you have sung on many occasions. But how many times have we sung it without really thinking about what we are singing? How many times have i sung this and yet lived in a way that looked completely different? What does it really mean to surrender all?

In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews there is a listing of Old Testament saints frequently called the roll call of faith. We read about the great patriarchs and matriarchs of the faith – Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, David and many more. God commends them for their trust and faith in Him by including them in this listing. But if we study what Scripture tells us about many of the folks in this great roll call, we find that most of them did not “surrender all”. There was a part of their life they insisted on holding onto. Abraham was a liar. Noah was a drunkard. Jacob was a deceiver. David was an adulterer and murderer. We’d be somewhat hard-pressed to say that they surrendered “all”. Gratefully that is where God’s grace and mercy come in. Their faith wasn’t borne out of their works; it was borne out of His grace. i, for one, am grateful – because i know that left to my own devices i too am a sinner – saved only by His grace.

But there is a group that God tells us about in that same chapter in Hebrews. He doesn’t tell us their names. All we know is “they were too good for this world” (Hebrews 12:38 NLT). Based upon the immediately preceding verses, they were chained, stoned, martyred, oppressed and mistreated – all for their faith in God. That’s the group i think of when i hear the words to this song. These are men and women who truly did surrender all. They forfeited all that they had at great cost. That is never a popular choice – even among the ancients. 

So what am i saying? Am i saying that we haven’t “surrendered all” if we haven’t been martyred and oppressed? NO! But i am saying that we would do well to learn from those men and women. They held nothing of greater worth or value in their lives than their relationship with God. Not because they earned that relationship, but because He extended that relationship to them through His Son.

No, the writer of Hebrews doesn’t tell us specifics about those men and women, but i do think we have a specific example of one in the Gospels. His name was Simon. He was a Galilean fisherman. He and his wife lived in the town of Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. He had grown up there. He and his younger brother, Andrew, were partnered with a man by the name of Zebedee, together with his two sons, James and John, in a successful fishing enterprise. The enterprise had been passed on to Simon, as the eldest son, by his father John. Simon probably came from a long line of fishermen. He had that tanned and ruddy appearance that comes from spending each day under the hot sun. Years of repeated casting and drawing of fishing nets had enabled him to develop a strong muscular frame. Simon was a man’s man who worked hard to earn a living and care for his family. Like the others in his family, he traveled to Jerusalem at least one time each year – to celebrate the Passover. But other than that, he spent his days on the sea gathering fish and on the shore attending the tools of his trade - cleaning, mending and preparing his nets and maintaining his boat. He knew the bounty of a plentiful harvest, but he also knew the disappointment of a day’s labor with nothing to show for it. Simon’s life was “normal”, predictable and relatively uneventful until the day he met Jesus.

When Jesus told Simon to “Follow Me” (Matthew 4:19), Simon didn’t hesitate – he didn’t even look back. He didn’t pause to think about it. As a matter of fact, this fisherman who earned his living with his nets left his net in the sea right where he had cast it. He even surrendered his name “Simon” and became known as “Peter” (the rock). He gave up the comforts of his home along the seaside and exchanged it for the hardships of the Judean and Galilean wilderness. Many nights a rock was his pillow and the stars were his blanket. All to follow the Master. All to sit under His teaching. All to know the Messiah more intimately.

When Jesus calls us to follow Him, there can be no looking back. There can be no gathering in of the nets and there can be no delay. Peter didn’t want to miss a moment of following Jesus. He didn’t want to miss a moment of being in the presence of Jesus. He didn’t want to miss a moment of hearing from Jesus. Peter never asked Jesus where they were going. He was content to follow Him wherever He went – as a matter of fact, he was more than content, he was exuberant about following Him wherever He went!

That’s how Peter was; he didn’t do anything halfway – it was all or nothing. Months later, walking toward Jesus on the water didn’t require Peter to daintily dangle his legs; it required him to jump out of the boat wholeheartedly. The night in the upper room when Jesus wanted to wash his feet and Jesus told him that otherwise he could “have no part with Me” (John 13:8 NASB), Peter immediately responded, “Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head” (John 13:9 NASB). Peter never followed Jesus partially; he was prepared to follow Him all the way.

The Master has invited each of us to walk with Him – to follow Him – in the same way. We would do well to follow Peter’s lead – and the lead of those who were “too good for this world”. We would do well to surrender all and follow the Master without restriction,  without reservation, and with nothing held back. Jesus Himself said we are to “love the Lord your God with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind” (Matthew 22:37 ESV). A call to follow Him is a call to surrender all. It’s all or nothing!

Portion excerpted from Walking With The Master, Ch. 14

P.S. i invite you to check out our new video entitled A Wilderness Journey. Feel free to share the video.

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,
I surrender all,
All to Thee,
My blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit,
Truly knowing that Thou art mine.

I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee,
My blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power,
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee,
My blessed Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender,
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken,
Take me Jesus, take me now.

I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee,
My blessed Savior,
I surrender all. 

Lyrics by Judson W. Van DeVenter ©1896

As recorded by Jadon Lavik