2025: A Year of Greater Surrender
Surrender is the hallmark of following Jesus actively.
Dear #DailyFollowers,
Happy New Year!
It’s 2025!
Can you believe it? It’s only a few hours since we said goodbye to 2024.
One thing I find truly amazing as the years roll by is that some things never change.
For example, the sun rising and setting, the moon showing up at night, or well-nurtured crops growing and yielding fruits similar to the seeds planted.
These are a few examples of things that haven't changed and won’t change as the years roll by.
For followers of Jesus, the call to follow Christ will also remain the same as years pass and new ones begin.
As we enjoy the first few hours of 2025, allow me to remind you of Christ’s call for you to follow Him.
Make 2025 the year you answer this call to follow or commit to being more active followers of Jesus.
Both of these decisions require a greater degree of surrender.
And what would you be surrendering, you may ask?
Christ answers that question in Luke 14:25-27, EXB:
25 Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and he turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to me but ·does not hate [or loves more than me; Jesus is using hyperbole to emphasise his point] his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, or sisters—or even ·life [life itself; or his own life]—he cannot be my ·follower [disciple]. 27 Whoever ·is not willing to [does not] carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my ·follower [disciple].
You're surrendering:
Any love for family that's greater than love for Christ
Any love for yourself or your life that towers over your love for Christ
Anything standing in the way of carrying your cross and following Christ.
Christ’s faithful follower is the one who increasingly surrenders everything with every passing day to follow Jesus.
In Jesus’ words in Luke 9:23, EXB:
23 Jesus said to all of them, “If ·people want [anyone wants] to follow me, they must ·give up the things they want [deny themselves; set aside their own interests]. They must ·be willing to give up their lives [take up their cross] daily and follow me.
From experience, I can tell you that surrender isn’t a walk in the park; it won’t come easy without any pushback from the current versions of ourselves.
But, thankfully, Christ speaking through Paul shows us how to surrender in Philippians 2:12-13, EXB (with emphasis on verse 13) as part of His promise to make us.
12 My ·dear friends [beloved], you have always obeyed God when I was with you. It is even more important that you obey now while I am away from you. ·Keep on working to complete [Continue working out] your salvation with ·fear [awe; reverence] and trembling, 13 because God is working in you ·to help you want to do and be able to do [ both to will/desire and to work] what pleases him.
God has already equipped us with the capacity to surrender; all we need to do to activate this capacity is to allow Him to work in us.
The question is, will we surrender in 2025?
I hope we do, and that is why the #DailyFollower community exists to support our journeys to greater surrender.
Join us by subscribing now to get more newsletters like this.
Also, share this with someone in your circle who wants to deepen their relationship with God in 2025.
Yours faithfully,
John, A #DailyFollower