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“You receive power through the act of surrender that you cannot obtain any other way.”


A thought by John Ortberg from his book, The Me I Want to Be (p. 64). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

Here is the whole paragraph. 

John says, “Exalted high in victory. Bent low in surrender. The two postures seem opposite, but Jesus understood that if you want to experience victory, you must start in surrender. Surrender brings power, and the need to surrender is deeply tied to Jesus’ offer of living in the flow of the Spirit. You receive power through the act of surrender that you cannot obtain any other way; you receive freedom through submission that you will otherwise never know.”

He goes on, “The Twelve Steps followed by recovery groups lay out a way of life that is the single greatest path to freedom for addicts the world has ever known. But at the core of the steps lies a great paradox: In which of the twelve steps does it say ‘now try really hard to not drink’? In which of the twelve steps does it even say ‘now decide not to drink’? Amazingly enough, the most powerful tool against the most powerful addiction in the world never asks people to decide to stop doing what is destroying their lives. Instead of mobilizing the will, its followers surrender their will. Try to overcome the problem by your will, and it will beat you. Surrender your will, and sobriety becomes possible. Surrender, which we think means defeat, turns out to be the only way to victory. This is not just the case with alcohol. It is also true with other addictions, with habits, with brokenness — and with sin in general.”

“Why does the will fail? In The Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous, the writer says that when it comes to drinking, we say and feel ‘never again.’ But we do it again. Why?

“We are unable, at certain times, to bring into our consciousness with sufficient force the memory of the suffering and humiliation of even a week ago.… the certain consequences that follow taking a drink do not crowd into the mind to deter us. If these thoughts occur, they are hazy and readily replaced by the old threadbare idea that this time we can handle it ourselves.”

John then says, “It is possible to receive power to become the person I want to be. But to do so, I have to hand over the keys.”

We want to receive that power, don’t we?  Then let’s hand over the keys, OK?

Yes, yes!

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