How to Approach the Question: ‘Is Surrender Worth the Cost?’

Do I want this cookie? Do I need it? Am I working out today? Is it worth the calories? You know the drill.

Whenever I have a decision to make, no matter how large or small, I immediately start a mental cost/benefit analysis. You may not call it that, but I guarantee you do it more than you realize. It’s a simple pro/con list that often comes up in both consequential and inconsequential decisions.

Psychologists use this analysis to help clients find motivation to kick an unhealthy habit or address reliance on emotions in decision-making rather than a planned approach. Investors use this analysis to assess which companies may offer a positive return compared to the risk involved.

Maybe that’s why we find a surrendered life so difficult as a Christian. We desire the lasting benefit of not spending eternity separated from God, but we aren’t sure the benefits of picking up our cross daily truly satisfy.

In fact, Peter responds to the story of the rich young ruler in Matthew 19:27 with the very question many of us ask every day: “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”

If that question swirls in the back of your mind on your journey of faith, read on and remember the blessings of letting go. First, however, let’s acknowledge the cost.

Surrender will cost you control.

We want control. In fact, it’s the position we’ve desired since the beginning of time in the Garden of Eden. We doubt God’s goodness when we disagree with what He deems good for us, so we try to take things into our own hands instead.

At times, it works well on paper, but God’s economy is not defined, limited, or explained by earthly wisdom and tangible spreadsheets. So when the position of our lives doesn’t match the vision for our lives, we want to pull back from surrendering our lives.

Yet Jesus calls His disciples—those who choose to follow Him as Lord and Savior of their lives—to release the expectation of earthly reward because of our eternal inheritance in Him.

“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Matthew 16:24 NIV)

Luke 14:26 states, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple”,

Then, in Matthew 19:16-22, Jesus and the rich young ruler have an exchange in which the man asks what else he must do to become a disciple. Jesus tells him to sell everything he owns and follow Him, and the man walks away in great sadness.

Throughout scripture, we witness the posture of surrender resemble an open-handed release of the outcome that daily proclaims:

Not my kingdom, but yours.

Not my money, but yours.

Not my time, but yours.

Not my will, but yours.

Not my truth, but yours.

Not my plans, but yours.

Not my strength, but yours.

So, how can we surrender to the story God is writing with our lives and not walk away sad when it’s so costly? In short, is letting go worth it?

Surrender’s benefits outweigh any momentary cost to us.

Psalm 103 recounts the benefits of surrender in a way that outnumbers any cost in our spreadsheet. Read it today and do not forget all His benefits. God forgives, heals, redeems, loves, and satisfies with mercy, justice, and grace. Allow that list to sink into your everyday life, and remember that God is the only one capable of providing each of these in full.

In the words of Jim Elliot, an American missionary who lost his life on an expedition to share Christ with the Auca tribe in Ecuador, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

Surrender invites us into a privileged position of stewardship.

The benefit of letting go also includes the invitation to steward what God has given us for His purposes and glory. Stewardship is an invitation to partner with God in working for the good of others, not simply to earn and deposit more in our bank accounts, but to invest in a lasting, unshakeable kingdom.  

As we live for His glory, even as our earthly position decreases, our joy increases. God reminds us that those who accept the invitation to steward the small on earth will be entrusted with the great and true riches of eternal life (Luke 16:11).

Surrender allows us to know our Savior.

For starters, John 10:27 reminds us that with Jesus as our shepherd and us as His sheep, we will know Him. The Greek word for ‘know’ implies a whole-life, whole-heart, whole-mind kind of knowing one another.

The greatest benefit of a life of surrender, even through suffering, is that we develop a greater intimacy with Jesus, our Shepherd. Therefore, we are strengthened to follow where He leads his sheep by still waters, in green pastures, through dark valleys, and ultimately to abundant tables.

Surrender enables us to experience abundant joy even now.

Matthew 6 reminds us of the benefit of laying up treasures in heaven rather than on earth. Our earthly riches often deceive us into thinking they are the primary reward for a life of faithfulness, but that is not so (1 Timothy 6:17).

The ultimate reward is that we are invited into the joy of our master. A joy independent of our bank accounts, earthly titles, or zip codes, this joy lasts forever in the presence of an everlasting God (Psalm 16:11).

Surrender positions us to accept God’s ultimate provision.

In Genesis, we are reminded of Abraham and Isaac through this lens of surrender. Letting go feels most costly when God asks us to give up something of great value. For Abraham, it was his own son.

As Abraham willingly obeyed God’s command to let go of this long-awaited heir, God provided the ultimate substitute in place of Isaac. Genesis 22:14 tells us that Abraham called that place of surrender “The Lord Will Provide,” a reminder that the place of your greatest surrender becomes the place of God’s greatest provision.

In Christ, this is our Truth as well: our eternal inheritance surpasses the value of anything we acquire, possess, or achieve on earth.

Likewise, as we let go, may we hear God’s words to Abram as his very words to you and me, “Do not be afraid… I am your shield, your very great reward” (Genesis 15:1).

Friend, remember that the cost of your surrender today pales in comparison to your eternal gain with Christ. In the end, may we have the privilege of testifying alongside Paul—that for the sake of knowing Christ, it was truly worth letting it all go (Philippians 3:7-8).