The Personal Surrender Plan

By Michael Griego on October 18, 2024 • ( 1 )

How does one reconcile a personal life plan or aspiration with the transformation of the mind mentioned in ROMANS 12? Here’s the answer I’d give to any person of any age. ◊

You’ve got a plan. We all have a plan. Some people have plans that are more thought-through than others. But we’re all moving down a path of some sort.

Sometimes we wonder why the plan doesn’t work out the way we planned.

Either way, it’s part of our get-ahead culture to plan and prepare, to have a schedule to follow, to map out a path of activity and measurable milestones for evaluation and adjustment. As Lewis Carroll wrote “If you don’t know where you’re going, then any road will get you there.”

Most people in a civilized society have an idea where they think they want to go and work hard to get there. But where does this start?

Very early in life.

Think about it. As small children we’re conditioned to attend school to learn, to get good grades, to progress through various levels and then possibly to selected schools for higher and more specific education. From there as young adults we target jobs and vocations that will provide provisional income and growth and stimulation in areas of interest or greatest opportunity. Then as adults we’ll move from one job to another seeking still higher income, growth and stimulation.

Sometimes at some point it may no longer be that interesting or even that great of an opportunity. It’s merely a job. Or to quote Rocky Balboa, “It’s a living.”

Is this the way life’s supposed to be?

Christian Career Counseling?
I’ve often been asked to provide career advice or vocational direction for young people and up-and-comers. It’s even more interesting when they are young Christians with a heart for the Kingdom and a drive for the top of the mountain.

How is that reconciled? Actually, pretty easily by most.

Because again, after all, we’re conditioned as small children to learn and progress and target growth, stimulation and the greatest opportunity. Now maybe add some community volunteer work, or better yet, full-time work in ministry or a noble cause.

But is this right?

As Christians, are we not supposed to do good work, be the best we can be and achieve greatness? Most people, Christian or not, say yes.

I agree. However with a bit of a twist.

Clear Uncertainty
A young man or woman struggles with love, work, ministry and purpose. Should they go to college, even grad school? Should they go into ministry or should they get a real job? A non-profit? Better yet, right?

Should they continue to date that sweetheart, or should their career path trump other life decisions? Should they marry young? Should they marry at all? What about children? Should they keep volunteering at the shelter? Should they develop new friends that care about the things they do?

Should they do this? Should they do that?

The questions can swirl in one’s head and culminate in confusion, frustration and Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Yes, clear FUD. Now add the secular culture coming at them with a very loud megaphone telling them what is acceptable, cool, and relevant.

The Christian life is tough for everyone. What’s a person to really do?

Would Jesus Go to Business School?
What would Jesus do? Some would think he’d go to the best university and then grad school and be an influence in the world of business or politics or ministry. Or maybe get into a hot start-up program or investment group with a chance to change the world with some product or technology. Better yet, Jesus would start a non-profit! Yes, that would be it, something to save the environment or feed the poor or bring water to people dying of thirst. Yes, Jesus would be great at a noble vocation.

Dare I say, that’s all off.

And furthermore, the question is irrelevant for those seeking guidance and clarity to the direction of their lives.

The Personal Surrender Plan
In light of ROMANS 12, expounded upon in the previous 2 posts, how should one really reconcile a personal life plan or aspiration with the call by the Apostle Paul to be transformed by the renewing of your mind as stated in Romans 12:2? Let’s first address what we typically do, and then address what we should do.

What We Typicaly Do: The “God, I’ve Got a Plan” Approach
Besides asking hypothetical and irrelevant questions, most of us do the following:

Determine what I want
Determine the best way to get there
Execute the plan
Pray to God for success

And people do this whether they really walk with God or not. It’s the “I’ve Got a Plan” approach to life. We share our desires with family and friends. We cultivate the idea and seek counsel to support and hone the idea. We conduct research and consider our options and best alternatives to achieve and execute the plan. And, of course, we pray to God that He helps it all be good and successful.

Because, after all, we want to serve Him and our fellow man and make the world a better place.

Then we wonder why it’s not working out or we feel empty. Or it actually does work out and we still are feeling empty and unfulfilled.

What wrong with this picture?

What We Should Do: The “God, Take My Plan” Approach
The answer is actually just a small but significant shift in orientation about our great Plan. Consider the following:

Ask God to do what He wants with you, i.e., surrender your will to His will
Ask God to show you the best way to get there
Ask God to lead you in executing the plan (His will)
Ask God to keep you successfully in His will, not yours.

It’s actually a full Personal Surrender Plan. Not my will, but His. All His. I may have a plan, clear desires, dreams and strong inclinations even toward unique areas of vocational focus and interests. These are actually God-given desires as we’re each created and wired uniquely:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. (Psalm 139:13)

These dreams may be in business, government, and education – or the marketplace. And as God’s Church, made up of True Christ-followers, operates in the world’s marketplace, so we’re to be ministers everywhere.

But one needs to “surrender” and give it up to God’s will, not our own. “Lord, I’m done” is the right attitude and stance. And it’s simply asking God in prayer to take me and my plan and do with it what He wants:

“Lord, what do you want me to do and be?”
“Lord, how do I get there? Please direct me.”
“Lord, I can’t do this alone, equip and help me do what you want me to do.”
“Lord, keep me on the right path and bless it for your purposes and glory, not mine.”

That Certain Uncertainty
This Personal Surrender Plan is a daily thing. It has to be. Jesus lived this way, getting his directional orders daily from the Father. It’s the same for us. We need to seek His guidance daily though the steps along the road are incremental and uncertain. But we can be certain that it is good, purposeful, and fruitful.

In fact, if we walk with Him, we can’t miss.

Are you on the Personal Surrender Plan?
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Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:3-6