What does it mean to surrender your life to christ?

Have you repeatedly sought fulfillment in worldly pleasures (seeking validation on social media, the next vacation, a relationship, a particular job or financial status, even material possessions etc..) only to end up feeling dissatisfied and discontented, causing you to wonder if there might be something wrong with you?

If thats the case you are not alone!

Many of us have wrestled with similar questions and emotions, and that's perfectly fine! It's totally normal to have goals and big dreams; just know that they will never "completely fulfill" you. This is because the only one who truly can is your creator. When you encounter Him, develop a relationship with Him, and place your faith and trust solely in HIM (not in external things), you'll come to understand that He is the only one who can truly satisfy your deepest desires.

So if you feel like you've tried everything only to be left with a constant deep feeling of dissatisfaction.

Perhaps you find yourself at "the end of yourself." Then, it's not necessarily a bad place, as it can often be where God begins to work in your life.

That's exactly what surrender is. It is no longer doing life "your way" and actually allowing God to guide you in absolutely everything! so that you can begin to do life, His way!

I often say,

"The end of you is the beginning of God."

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One of my favorite stories from the New Testament is when Jesus speaks with a Samaritan woman: It was surprising for a Jewish rabbi to interact with her, as Samaritans and Jews held animosity towards each other, and men typically did not speak with women alone in public. Yet, Jesus knew she would be drawing water from the well alone at that particular time of day.

Many of us can relate to this story in some way.

She had been married five times and was not currently married. I imagine she carried shame and a deep sense of dissatisfaction until she met Jesus, who met her exactly where she was and spoke to her about the living water. (himself) and that once she drank the water he offers, she would never thirst again. The story concludes with her eagerly leaving to inform her entire town that she had met the Messiah, the Christ!

Jesus talks with a Samaritan Woman

John 4

4 Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John— ² although in fact it was not Jesus who baptized, but his disciples. ³ So he left Judea and went back once more to Galilee.

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.^[a])

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people,²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.