From Scott to You – I Surrender

posted by Navigators on July 8th, 2026 in Blog | Joy | Resilience | Surrender

Dear Friend,

As a young man, I didn’t like the idea of surrender. Actually, I hated it. Saying ‘I surrender’ was to proclaim my own defeat and weakness. It was acknowledging failure and exclaiming, ‘I quit!’, ‘I give up!’, ‘I lose!’ I would avoid surrender at nearly all cost, holding tight to the ideal of ‘fight to win’.

In [the latest issue of Compass*], we explore a significant paradigm shift regarding surrender for those who live in the Kingdom – one that declares those who lose actually win, and those who die are made alive. This truth is reiterated through each of the four gospels (Matt 10:39; 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24; 17:33, John 12:25), making clear the point that life in and through Christ requires surrender.

There is no option for partial commitment or a reduced cost. Our good and right act of worship is to offer our bodies as living sacrifices holy and pleasing to God (Rom 12:1-2). To offer everything to Him without restraint and without restriction, even as Abraham would not withhold his precious and promised son (Gen 22:12).

A dear friend of mine used to express it this way: ‘following Christ is one big “yes”, followed by a lot of little “uh-huhs”.’ The ‘big yes’ comes with salvation when we receive Jesus as Lord. The many ‘uh-huhs’ that follow express a steady state of surrender as our priorities, purposes, preferences, affections, wants and desires are all held with an open hand before the Lord.

This surrender can be very difficult – it may come with the pain of hard goodbyes and distance from those you love. It may be marked with obstacles and challenges that make enduring in surrender seem untenable. But as the articles in this issue remind us, this surrender is not one that leaves us empty or lacking. It’s a surrender that fills us – leaving us brimming with hope, with longing for the future, with life and with an inheritance that is imperishable and secure.

Rather than failure and loss, the greatest and most rewarding joy in life comes through surrender – surrender to God and His purposes, not only in salvation but also in living as those who have been saved.

Labouring together,

Scott Brown
National Director

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